Bubble Trouble
by RawraTheDragon
Summary: Steven and Connie find some strange blue bubbles washed up on the beach one morning.
1. Prologue

Down on the seafloor, only a few miles out to sea from the small town of Beach City, a huge glass temple shuddered, its huge reflective panes quaking under pressure. Inside the temple, an old and once powerful being struggled to hold herself together. Her ancient eyes took in the damaged walls, spiderweb cracks running through the clear glass all around her.

A few Earth-days before, a tremor had rolled through the seafloor, shaking the temple. The glass above her had shifted and she was forced to repair the leaks as best she could with the scarce materials she had.

The small earthquake had taken its toll on her too, the ground's movements causing a large shard of glass to fall from one of the intricate decorations on the ceiling, and had slice deep into her wrist, and she could not regenerate or heal.

She rubbed at the gold band that cut into her skin on the wrist of her gem hand. It had been there for such a long time. Her time was limited now. The band which kept her and her powers locked away had almost drained her gem's energy, and soon, it would no longer have enough to keep the temple standing.

The glass prison gave another shudder, the spiderweb cracks lacing their way across the ceiling. Her gem throbbed, and she knew that the time before her gem shut down was limited. She could feel the beginning of shut down creeping up on her and her last thought was to try to secure the large numbers of blue-green orbs floating in the ceiling space. She was too late.

The temple shuddered one more time and then exploded into millions of glittering shards. Her last sight was the blue-green orbs, floating upwards toward the surface as her heavier body followed behind them. Her eyes glazed over and everything went dark.


	2. What I Couldn't Do For Her

Sunlight streamed through the windows of the beach house, the warp pad in the mouth of the temple glittering as the beams struck it. Steven felt its warmth on his face and he yawned, sitting upright in his sunlit bed. He spotted Connie across the room, still asleep on the temporary bed they had prepared for her stay. Between his bed and hers, Lion lay stretched out on the wooden floor, belly exposed to the warm sunlight. Steven smiled. It was Summertime, which meant Connie didn't have to go to school. He scrambled out of bed, jumping over Lion and rushing towards his sleeping friend.

"Connie! Connie!" he said, shaking her shoulder gently, "Wake up Connie! It's a perfect sunny day outside!" His friend yawned sleepily, rubbing her eyes and sitting up. She yawned again,

"Hey Steven," she said, grinning as she saw the sunlight and the beach outside, "It's a lovely day!" They looked at each other, smiling,

"We should go to the beach!" Steven exclaimed, hurrying to find his clothes,

"Yes! The Gems could come too, if they're not doing gem stuff," Connie said, already pulling on her shoes.

"Let's go!" Steven said, pulling his shirt over his head and shoving his feet into his flip flops. They raced down the stairs and bounced into the kitchen, where Pearl was busy washing the dishes.

"Hey Pearl!" Connie said, as Steven bounced around. Pearl put down the dish she was drying and turned towards them,

"Why are you so excited this morning Steven?" she asked, patting him on the head,

"We're going to the beach, 'cause it's so nice and sunny outside!" he explained, hugging her, "You wanna come?"

Pearl smiled, "Oh, that sounds lovely, however I do have some more cleaning to do," she said, "Perhaps Amethyst will go with you."

"Aww…" Steven whined, "Come on Connie, let's go ask Amethyst!"

They had begun to walk off in search of the purple gem when Pearl called out,

"Steven, Connie!"

"Yes?" they answered,

"Have fun at the beach, but please, eat breakfast first," she said, gesturing to two fresh stacks of pancakes. Steven gasped,

"Pancakes!" he exclaimed, jumping up onto one of the stools, "Thanks Pearl!" The pale gem smiled. Connie climbed onto a stool next to Steven,

"I'm not sure my parents would like me eating this," she said, eyeing the stack of pancakes,

"Nah, what she don't know can't hurt her," said Amethyst, strolling into the kitchen, "Hey P, did ya make any for me?" Pearl huffed, returning to the dishes,

"You can make your own pancakes, Amethyst," she said. Connie pulled the pancakes towards her and began to eat, gaining a smile from Steven and Pearl.

"You wanna come to the beach today, Amethyst?" he asked the purple gem, who began making her own pancakes,

"Sorry Steven, I promised I'd help Garnet with something," she said, pouring milk into the mixing bowl, "I'll come down if we get done early."

RTDRTDRTD

Steven and Connie finished their pancakes quickly, putting their plates by the sink and running for the door,

"Bye Pearl! Bye Amethyst!" Steven called, shutting the front door behind him, the pair's footsteps clattering down the wooden steps and onto the warm sand.

Steven kicked off his shoes and wriggled his toes in the warm sand, smiling as he saw Connie doing the same. The beach was empty today, despite the warm weather. Connie was looking toward the ocean,

"Hey, what's up?" Steven asked, standing beside her, his flip flops in his hand and his dark curls swaying in the slight breeze.

"Steven…" Connie began, "What are those?" She pointed toward where the tide had come in during the night. On the sand lay a number of blue-green orbs, shimmering in the sun as the ground around them dried in the sun.

"They look like… bubbles!" Steven exclaimed, rushing towards them. Connie grabbed onto his hand, pulling him to a stop,

"Steven, we don't know what's in them, or where they came from," she cautioned, warily eyeing the bubbles as they lay innocently in the sand, surrounded by seaweed and shells and glittering in the morning sun.

"Connie, they could be gem stuff!" He said excitedly, tugging at his arm, "We've got to get them before anyone else does!"

Connie knew he had a point and shrugged, releasing his hand and helping him to gather the bubbles into a group close to the beach house. She knew that the danger these objects might hold would be greater if they were found by other humans and she and Steven needed to stop the rest of Beach City from getting access to whatever these were. Connie glanced over the curve of the bay, checking for other people,

"What now?" Steven asked, gently touching one of the bubbles.

"We should check the rest of the beach to make sure that we've got them all," Connie suggested. Steven nodded,

"Okay, but how do we watch these bubbles at the same time?" he asked, scratching his head for a moment. Connie thought for a minute,

"Let's hide them behind this rock, just incase anyone comes down this end of the beach!" she said, picking up a bubble and moving it to behind a rock close to the temple. When all the bubbles were moved, she and Steven set off down the beach, keeping an eye out for any more of the blue-green bubbles.

RTDRTDRTD

"Careful Steven! Don't drop them!" Connie called, reaching out to steady her friend as they approached the rock where the other bubbles were hidden. He carried five bubbles and she had four more to add to the pile of six bubbles already behind the rock.

"Woah! Thanks Connie!" he said, almost stumbling over a rock washed up by the tide. He gripped the bubbles a little tighter, resting his chin on top of the one on top of the pile in his arms as they stepped over the sand and ducked behind the rock. Connie carefully put her bubbles down and helped Steven with his. He sat down on the sand, resting his back against the cliff face behind them, and Connie sat next to him.

"What do we do with them?" he asked, running his hand over one of the bubbles. He picked it up, brushing the sand off it and gazing into it. A small dark blue gem was suspended in the middle of the bubble, just like the ones he had accidentally seen in the Burning Room. There were blue bubbles in there but they were the colour of Sapphire's gem, not this blue-green colour.

"I say we tell the gems," Connie said, gazing at the blue gem in the bubble, "Remember, we have no idea what these things can do." Steven's brows furrowed as he spun the bubble in his hands. He knew the safest option was to take the bubbles to the gems, but he knew they would be wary of them. He set the bubble down and picked up a different one with a cracked purple gem inside it. He felt sorry for the cracked triangular gem inside the bubble and longed to help it.

"I want to give them a chance," he said, stroking the bubble in his arms, "Some of these gems are really hurt." Connie admired the kindness her friend was willing to show every gem, no matter where they came from, and remembered his kindness towards the blue gem from a few months ago. Lapis Lazuli had stolen the ocean to try to get to space, and had tried to drown Steven when he tried to help her. She had also fused with Jasper and dragged her to the bottom of the ocean to protect Steven.

"Are you sure, Steven?" she asked, putting her hand on the cracked gem's bubble, "Some of them might not be friendly." She saw Steven's face set into a look of complete determination and he nodded,

"I want to help them," he said, patting a few of the other bubbles, "I want to do what I couldn't do for Lapis."

"Okay, but I'm helping-" she began before being interrupted by the sound of Garnet calling for them.


	3. Secret Team 2

"Steven, what are we going to do with them?" Connie whispered as they sat side by side on his bed, "We can't just leave them on the beach forever. The tide could take them again or someone could find them!" Steven nodded, looking thoughtful,

"We should move them to somewhere safer, where no one will accidentally find them," he said, looking out the window towards the rock where the bubbles were hidden.

"Yeah, but where?" Connie asked. Steven's face lit up.

"We can hide them here in the house!" He said, jumping to his feet.

"But the gems might find them!" Connie protested, "How about we just hide them in a cave somewhere?" Steven stilled and sat back down again.

"Ronaldo might find them," Steven said, "You know how nosy he is." Connie nodded,

"We can't let him see them," she said, sighing, "I guess the bubbles are coming in here."

"Let's go get them!" Steven said, keeping his voice down, checking the beach house for the gems. He grabbed a bag that was large enough to hold some of them. Slinging it across his back, he and Connie snuck downstairs and out the front door.

"Okay, we get the bubbles, get back in the house and hide them in your closet," Connie whispered as they hurried across the sand, Steven occasionally glancing back at the house. They slipped behind the rock and quickly counted the bubbles. There were still fifteen of them, lying untouched on the sand. Steven scooped up one with a red gem and put it in the bag he brought. They quickly gathered the rest of the bubbles, ten fitting into the bag Steven had brought. He hoisted the bag onto his shoulders again and looked over to Connie, who was carrying the remaining five.

"Ready?" he asked, looking towards the house. She nodded and they crept across the sand again.

Up in Steven's room, they quickly lined the bubbles up on the shelves of Steven's closet and shut the door, breathing heavily. Connie giggled quietly,

"I guess this is now Secret Team Mark Two," she said, covering her mouth to muffle her giggles incase the gems heard. Steven giggled too.

The sound of the warp pad activating alerted them to Garnet and Amethyst's arrival back at the temple. They had left after lunch and Steven was glad they were back in time to go to the beach again before the sun set. Steven and Connie bounded down the stairs and rushed towards a soaking wet Amethyst and a slightly burnt Garnet. As they approached the warp pad, the temple door opened and Pearl stepped out of her room.

"Oh, you're back," she said, rushing to look them over, "Why is Amethyst wet?"

"We went to look for Malachite," Amethyst said with a shrug, "We didn't find her and Garnet fell in a volcano."

"There was some sort of explosion off shore, and we thought it could be Malachite," Garnet explained. Pearl sighed,

"We may as well keep chasing Peridot because it's not like we're any closer to finding Malachite," she said, taking a seat on the lounge. Amethyst shape-shifted into dog and shook the water off herself and all over Pearl, who frowned at her. Garnet stood completely still and Steven and Connie eyed her warily, aware that she may have seen what they did with her future vision. They exchanged worried glances as Garnet said nothing at all. She soon opened the temple door into the Burning Room and glanced at them. They scrambled to follow her, slipping into the room just before the doors closed. Garnet stood by the lava pool and Connie and Steven cautiously approached her.

"Garnet…" Steven began, pausing to consider what he was about to ask her, "Is- is something wrong?" Garnet said nothing for a moment, but then she slowly removed her visor. Crouching down to the height of the two children, all three of her eyes looked at them.

"Garnet?" Steven asked quietly,

"I saw, Steven," she began, reaching out to rest a hand on their shoulders, "And now I see multiple futures where all goes well. I trust you to do the right thing. I will not speak of this to the others until all the pieces are together, but you must prepare yourselves for more to happen." She gave them both a knowing look, before sliding her shades back on and standing up, leading them out of the Burning Room and back into the house.

RTDRTDRTD

"What did Garnet mean by all that?" Connie asked, "I mean, we know she saw us, but what's the right thing to do? What more could happen?" She gazed out the window towards the ocean, where the sun had now begun to set. Steven shrugged,

"I dunno," he said, "But I think we should just keep doing what we're doing, you know?" he glanced towards the closet containing the bubbles, "I mean, Garnet said she wouldn't tell, so we're safe right?"

"Probably," Connie replied, "Garnet doesn't break her promises. We should trust her." Steven nodded thoughtfully, glancing down into the house, where Amethyst was passed out on the lounge.

"I don't want to hurt them by keeping this from them," he said, remembering the tension that had the house on edge in the past few weeks, "This could turn out like Sardonyx again if we're not careful."

"Oh I hope that doesn't happen again," Connie says, looking down at Amethyst, who had held them all together for a whole week, "I don't want Amethyst to have to struggle to hold you guys together again." Steven nodded in agreement.

"Maybe Secret Team Mark Two wasn't such a good idea after all," he said as the purple gem bellow them rolled over and fell off the couch, but stayed fast asleep,

"Maybe," Connie agreed, "But Garnet has faith in us, and we can count on her to help us." Steven looked at her and nodded. He could trust Garnet's future vision, so perhaps things wouldn't turn out so bad after all.

RTDRTDRTD

Meanwhile, outside on the beach, an unconscious figure washed ashore, her pale blue hair spread like a sandy halo around her head. She lay on the beach as the sunset faded into the black of night and the pinpricks of stars in the sky glittered above her. Far off in the distant stars, Homeworld continued in the same way as they had for centuries, having completely forgotten an ancient pale blue gem left imprisoned on an old Kindergarten planet called Earth. The tide lapped at her feet and the old cuff on her wrist gleamed in the moonlight as she lay motionless on the beach.


	4. Ball And Chain

The sun was just peaking over the horizon when Pearl, who had no need for sleep, stepped outside onto the beach. Often, Pearl found herself stepping outside in the early hours of the morning to watch the sunrise. It was something she had done when Rose was still alive. Rose had loved Earth's sunrises and Pearl had found herself joining her, silently watching the colours of the Earth's sky transition from oranges and pinks to the bright day time blue.

On this morning, there were no clouds to be seen, and Pearl made her way to her favourite place to watch from, gracefully leaping up the stone figure of the temple to sit on its head. She sighed as the colours of the sunrise bled across the sky, reflecting in the ocean. She turned her gaze to the slowly waking town of Beach City, watching as the sunlight hit the sleepy buildings, dusting them in soft pink light. Rose would have loved this sunrise, Pearl thought to herself. She shook herself, berating herself for thinking of Rose during one of her precious moments to herself. Getting to her feet, she leaped from the head of the temple back onto the soft sand beach, making her way back to the beach house in order to begin her work for the day.

RTDRTDRTD

Meanwhile, inside, Steven lay awake in bed. He had a feeling something was different this morning. His instinct was urging him to go outside and find out, but he had heard Pearl leave the house, so he stayed put until she returned. He waited until she had gone into her room in the temple before he got out of bed, tip toeing over to where Connie was. Connie was wide awake too.

"I think something's different this morning," he whispered as she sat up in bed, "I get the feeling something's outside."

"Well what are we waiting for?" she asked, slipping out of bed. They tiptoed down the stairs and Steven was opening the door as quietly as could, when Amethyst awoke on the floor behind them.

"Huh?" she grunted, sitting upright, "Steven, Connie, where the hell are you two going at this hour?" She yawned and stood as Steven and Connie exchanged guilty looks,

"Uhh…" Steven began, scrambling to find a reason. Amethyst narrowed her eyes,

"You gonna tell me?" she asked, "Or do I have to tag along to find out?" Steven gulped, turning and tugging Connie out the door, attempting to flee from Amethyst's curiosity. The purple gem shape-shifted her arms longer and grabbed Steven and Connie by the collars of their pyjamas, pulling them to a stop. She followed them outside, making sure the front door closed quietly before returning her arms to their normal lengths.

"So I guess I'm gonna have to tag along," she said, following them away from the beach house. Once they were far enough away, Amethyst stopped them,

"So why were you two sneaking out of the house at an hour like this?" she asked, hands on her hips. Steven and Connie looked at each other nervously,

"I - We had a feeling something's different this morning," Steven said, "Something's new, and it's here, on the beach, at this time of morning." Amethyst eyed him for a moment, before she spoke,

"So, where do your Spidey-senses tell you this thing is?" she asked, looking around the empty beach. Steven thought for a moment, before his gaze fell on the headland on which the temple sat,

"I have a feeling it's on the other side of the headland," he said. The three of them exchanged a look and wordlessly set off to walk around to the other beach.

As they rounded the corner, Steven made for where the tide had washed in overnight. There, on the white sand, lay a blue figure, her pale blue hair spread in a sandy halo around her and her arm stretched out, palm facing upwards, which revealed the pale blue gem that glittered in the centre of her palm.

"Well…" Amethyst said, "This is something new."

"What should we do with her?" Connie asked, as Steven approached the prone figure, kneeling and touching her face. The gem on the sand didn't respond to Steven's prodding, still lying limp on the sand. Steven turned to the others, his eyes wide,

"She won't wake up," he said, taking in the numerous scrapes covering her body and the deep wound on her wrist, "And she looks pretty battered."

"Shouldn't she have retreated to her gem by now?" Connie asked. Amethyst shrugged,

"I dunno," the purple gem said, "But I think we should take her back to the temple. She is a gem, and maybe we can help her." She stepped forward, crouching down to touch the blue gem's forehead before she scooped the unconscious gem into her arms and lifted her off the sand. They turned back, Amethyst cradling the blue gem, and started making their way back to the house as the sunrise colours faded away into the pale blue skies of early morning.

RTDRTDRTD

Amethyst, Connie, and Steven stepped through the door of the house with the pale blue gem, who was still unconscious. As they came into the house, the temple door opened and Pearl and Garnet stepped out.

"Good morning, Steven, Connie, Amethyst," Pearl greeted, approaching them, "What were you three doing outside this early-" Pearl stopped speaking when she noticed the figure cradled in Amethyst's arms, "Who on Earth is that, Amethyst? And where did you get her from?"

"She was lying unconscious on the beach, so we brought her back here!" Steven announced, bouncing excitedly as Amethyst set the new gem on the lounge. As the purple gem set her down, her arm fell, revealing the gem on her palm. Pearl gasped,

"Another gem?" she exclaimed, suddenly very dizzy, "Why-? How-?" Garnet silently assisted Pearl in sitting down,

"She's not looking so good," Amethyst said, gazing down at the new gem, "Why hasn't she woken up yet?" Garnet turned to observe the gem on the lounge,

"It's this," Garnet said, tracing the metalwork of the cuff on the gem's wrist, "This stops her from using her gem powers, and also prevents her from regenerating and healing. I assume it's been designed to feed off her gem's energy, possibly in order to create a prison somewhere for her." The red fusion examined the cuff in closer detail, tracing the spot where one of the green stones had been broken off when the bracelet had been damaged,

"This cuff has kept her imprisoned using the energy from her gem and now, it's run out of its source. She is too weak to stay awake, but she will die if we cannot remove the cuff," Garnet explained, looking down at the blue gem and pushing the hair out of the unconscious gem's eyes.


	5. Breaking Bonds

The Gems, Connie, and Steven, gathered around the new arrival. For a few moments, no one spoke.

"So… What are we gonna do with her?" Steven asked. Pearl nervously wrung her hands,

"W-well, we don't know her, Steven," Pearl began, twiddling her thumbs, "She - she could be dangerous!" Pearl started wringing her hands again, "Perhaps it would be better if we… you know…" She trailed off, not wanting to speak her thoughts,

"So you just wanna crush her gem? Or leave her to die?" Amethyst jumped in, standing up for the weak gem, "Remind me how well that worked with Lapis, and just- just leave her alone!" Garnet put a restraining hand on the shorter gem who was clenching her fists in preparation to fight Pearl,

"No," Garnet said, looking sternly at both of them, "We're not going to hurt her. She needs our help." There was an awkward pause before Steven threw his hands in the air, cheering,

"She'll be with us in no time!" he yelled, bounding around the house.

RTDRTDRTD

Pearl sat by the other gem's side that night, the hand with the gem and the cuff resting in her lap as she hunched over to examine the metal. It was one she was unfamiliar with, probably going out of use long before she was created. A yellow diamond had been pressed into the metal, and Pearl shuddered when she saw it, before looking for a way to take the cuff off. The clasp where it had been fastened on had been welded over, so there was no possible way for her to remove it from the gem's wrist. Pearl sighed and examined the new gem, holding the blue gem's hand up to her eyes to study the unfamiliar gem in her palm. It was pale blue with blotches of white. Pearl traced its surface and then released the gem's arm. She stood and walked to the kitchen to retrieve the medical kit. If this gem couldn't heal, then she would do her best to make her feel as comfortable as possible. As she worked on carefully cleaning the other gem's wounds, she pulled up a hologram screen and began to hunt through her stores of information for anything regarding this gem or the strange cuff on her wrist. Above her, Steven watched silently from his bed, wondering if she was trying to apologise for what she'd said earlier.

RTDRTDRTD

"How ya doin' gem?" the lazy voice of Amethyst asked. When there was still no response from the unconscious gem, the small purple gem jumped up onto the couch to sit beside her, the other gem's feet on her lap.

"Ya know, it's kinda weird, having another gem in the house," Amethyst said, "It's been me and these two with Rose for pretty much my whole life." She swung her legs aimlessly, "Were you alone?" Amethyst wondered, remembering the lonely days between her emergence from the hole in the Kindergarten and when Rose arrived, "I was alone for a while. They left me there, Homeworld," She looked at the blue gem, whose face looked peaceful, even though she was battered and unconscious, "Did they leave you here too?" she asked softly, touching the gem's hair. It was soft and it shimmered like the sea during the early morning. Amethyst sighed, looking down at her feet in their scuffed white boots, "You know, there are still some days when I still feel left behind. I still feel as though I'm missing out, missing the entire point of being a gem because I never got to learn how…" Amethyst paused to sniffle quietly, "I don't want that for you. I don't want you to turn out the way I have, or how Lapis has," she wiped away a tear rolling down her cheek and tried to pull herself together, "I just hope we're doing the right thing. I hope we can help."

RTDRTDRTD

"Gem?" Steven asked, jumping onto the couch, Connie by his side, "New Gem?" He turned to Connie, "What even is her name anyway?" he asked,

"I don't know," she replied. They were silent for a moment before Steven's face lit up,

"Hey, do you think, seeing as she came from the ocean…" he said, looking at the unconscious gem with wide, glittering eyes, "That she might know where Jasper and Lapis are?"

"I hope so. You've been looking for her for ages!" Connie exclaimed, excited to have more questions to ask the gem when she awoke,

"Then again, the ocean is pretty big," Steven said, frowning and resting his chin on his hand,

"Yeah," Connie agreed with a sigh, "They could be almost anywhere by now!"

"We'll just have to keep looking!" he said with a determined look. Connie stated her agreement and followed him up the stairs to his room in the loft.

RTDRTDRTD

"Amethyst, Pearl!" Garnet called, striding out the temple door towards the blue gem on the couch. The two gems answered her quicker than usual,

"Is something the matter, Garnet?" Pearl asked. Connie and Steven came pounding down the stairs and bounded up to Garnet,

"Hey Garnet!" they greeted her, "What's up?" Garnet smiled, ruffling Steven's hair,

"I think I might know a way to get the cuff off her wrist!" Garnet announced, stepping towards the couch,

"Are you sure this is a good idea Garnet?" Pearl asked, wringing her hands, "I- I mean, we don't know what this thing does and- and-" She stopped as Garnet whirled around to face her. When the taller gem spoke, her voice was cold,

"Pearl, this thing is killing her!" she growled, "It's sucking the energy from her gem! I will not stand by and watch as another gem suffers and dies! Lapis suffered because of us, and I will not see it happen again!" Pearl shrunk back, fisting her hands in the material of her shirt. Garnet turned away from her and knelt down beside the lounge, reaching her hand out to lay it over the metal cuff.

The cuff was made of a material found on Homeworld, and it had been crafted there too. Its design was old, but Garnet was sure she could get the cuff off the gem's wrist before she died of exhaustion. She began to heat up the hand that touched the cuff, unsure of the melting point for such a material. The silvery metal began to soften and Garnet could tell it would come off easily. She quickly stopped increasing the heat and began to pull at the softened metal. Soon, Garnet was able to pull the cuff off the gem's wrist, and she flung it to the floor, getting to her feet and crushing it beneath her boot. There was a few seconds of no movement, but then the gem in front of her disappeared in a puff of white smoke, Garnet catching her gem before it could hit the floor. She cradled it gently in her palms, the pale blue sticking out against her dark red skin. The other gems, Connie, and Steven gathered around her, peering down into their leader's palms. Steven broke the silence,

"So, how long is she gonna take?" he asked, looking up at them, "Is it gonna be fast, like Amethyst? Or will she take two weeks, like Pearl did?"

"I don't know, Steven," Garnet answered, "She does have to recover her energy from having that cuff on for so long, and then she has to take time before regenerating." Steven's face fell,

"Okay," he said, looking dejectedly down at the blue gem, "I was looking forward to seeing her, but I guess she needs to take her time with this." He picked her gem up out of Garnet's hands, "I'll watch out for her," he said, stroking the shiny blue surface of the gem, "Don't worry. We'll take care of you." Garnet patted his head,

"I'm sure you will, Steven," she said, "I'm sure you will."


	6. Keeping Secrets

A week had passed and the small blue gem, who Steven had taken to calling 'Blue', hadn't moved an inch, so to speak, because the gems had made him leave her indoors. Connie had gone home soon after Garnet had broken the cuff, so now Steven was alone with a regenerating gem, three Crystal Gems, fifteen bubbled gems hidden in his closet and one Lion. He gave a loud sigh and rolled over, looking down at the blue gem next to him,

"When are you coming back?" he asked her, resting his chin on his hands. The gem didn't answer.

"I hope it's soon," Steven continued, "It's a bit lonely here, with Connie gone and all." The gem was still silent. "I think you'd like Connie," he said, stroking the gem's surface, "She's a smart person and you seem like a smart gem, so maybe you'd get along." He sighed again and held the gem up in the light, "We're gonna have to wait until you come back to introduce you two properly." He rested the gem on a pillow beside his bed and rolled over again.

"It's such a gloomy day today," he said, mostly to himself. He eyed the closet at the other end of his loft bedroom. Garnet and Pearl had left on a mission, leaving him and Amethyst alone in the house, although he hadn't seen Amethyst since breakfast. Taking a careful glance around the house, he snuck over to the closet and took out the bubble containing the cracked purple gem. Tiptoeing back to his bed, he sat down, turning the bubble in his hands. He reached over to the pillow beside his bed and scooped up Blue from where she lay. Sitting her down next to the bubble on his bed, Steven pondered,

"What do I do?" he asked him self aloud, staring into the bubble at the cracked gem inside, "How do I help you? What do I need to do?" Flopping on the bed, he gave a loud sigh and closed his eyes. He didn't notice the sound of footsteps as Amethyst approached him,

"What you need to do is tell me why you have a bubble sitting on your bed," she said, frowning. Steven sat up, eyes wide in terror as he saw the purple gem at the top of the stairs.

RTDRTDRTD

Garnet stood, her gauntlets out and fresh from fighting, with the corrupted green gem in her hands. With an internal sigh, she bubbled it and sent it back to the temple. Pearl, having untangled herself from the thorn bushes where she had been flung, made her way over, brushing off specks of dirt and leaves from her clothes. She looked up at Garnet,

"Well," she said, "That was… uncomfortable." Garnet cracked a tiny smile before she turned away to go back to the warp pad.

"We should go," Garnet said, stepping up onto the warp pad before turning to face Pearl. The slim gem nodded, and stepped up onto the platform beside her. The warp pad activated and they were both sent up into the warp stream and on their way back to the temple.

RTDRTDRTD

Back at the house, Amethyst and Steven were engaged in a tense standoff. Steven, on the bed, clutched the bubble to his chest, shielding the cracked purple gem inside. He had shoved the pale blue gem inside his pocket and looked fearfully over the shimmering surface of the bubble to where Amethyst stood, hands on her hips.

"Steven…" she said, the tension in her evident in her voice, "Steven, where did you get these?"

"The beach-" he answered, "They were washed in by the tide." Amethyst sighed,

"Steven do you know what sort of trouble you're getting yourself into?" she exclaimed, running her hand through her pale hair, "Why the hell are they even in the house?"

"I wanna help them!" Steven exclaimed, hands protectively shielding the bubble, "I wanna help them like we're helping Blue!" Amethyst shook her head in annoyance,

"Steven, I'll help you, but we're going to get in so much trouble for this!" she said, jumping up to sit on his bed, "Are you gonna heal this one?" Steven looked down into the bubble,

"I don't know," he said, frowning, "I wanna wait until Blue comes back, so she can help us." He pulled the gem out of his pocket, "But I don't think she'll be back for a while." Steven sighed and Amethyst reached out to lay a hand over his,

"She'll be back," she said, trying to comfort him, "Pearl came back too, remember?" He nodded, but kept looking down at his feet,

"But it's different this time," he said quietly, "She's been harnessed as an energy source and she looked so tired. Maybe she won't…" He trailed off, unwilling to voice his concerns about the pale blue gem. Amethyst sighed, before searching for a way to change the topic. As she thought, the sound of the warp pad activating interrupted her. Steven jumped, grasping the bubble a little too tightly. The blue-green glassy surface strained and quivered for a moment before it popped in Steven's hands. Eyes wide in panic, he grabbed the dormant purple gem and stashed it in his pocket as Pearl's voice rang through the house.

"Steven!" Pearl called, the sounds of her shoes moving away from the warp pad and towards the main area of the house. Steven and Amethyst exchanged a nervous look. Steven gulped.

"Hey Pearl!" Amethyst replied, trying her best not to sound as though she had just been caught red-handed,

"Oh!" the pale gem said, "Hello Amethyst. What are you doing up there?"

"Oh, Steven wanted to watch a movie," she lied, "But we can't decide which one to watch." She watched as Pearl's eyes narrowed for a moment before the taller gem turned around and walked into the kitchen with a parting 'Okay'. Steven let out the breath he didn't know he'd been holding and sighed in relief, looking to Amethyst with a thankful look on his face. He flopped back on his bed, pulling the two gems out of his pockets and resting them on his chest. Amethyst sat beside him.

"What are we gonna do?" she asked in a hushed voice. Steven shrugged,

"I dunno," he replied in an equally quiet tone, "But we'll start with this!" He licked his palm and touched it to the cracked purple gem resting on his chest. Amethyst watched in excitement as the gem glowed slightly and then the crack closed up until it was perfect again. Steven sat up, smiling brightly as he held the purple gem and the pale blue gem in his hands, and Amethyst smiled too,

"How 'bout we watch that movie now?" she asked. Steven jumped off the bed and scrambled for a movie to watch. He pulled out Lonely Blade V. Amethyst could endure some sword fights if it meant she didn't have to face Pearl. She lay back on Steven's bed as the movie started and he joined her a few moments later. She eyed the two gems resting on his chest and sighed lightly. She hoped they didn't get into all that much trouble when Garnet and Pearl found out.


	7. Uncovered

Steven and Amethyst walked through the junk piles in Amethyst's room, searching for the shallow pool of water that lead to the Burning Room. Carefully clutched in Steven's pocket were the formerly-cracked purple gem and Blue, who still showed no signs of regeneration. Amethyst bent down to peer into another puddle. When she straightened, she turned and waved Steven over,

"I've found the puddle, Steven!" she called. The boy came running and they both stood by the pool's edge for a moment.

"You first," he said, nudging her,

"What? Are you too chicken to jump in?" she asked. He looked offended,

"Okay," he said quickly, "I'm going in." He waded into the pool and dropped into the Burning Room, sliding down one of the pipes until he could let go and land safely on the ground. Amethyst followed close behind him, landing beside him and shaking out her hair. Garnet was sat in front of the pool of lava, and she did not acknowledge their approach. Amethyst broke the silence,

"Garnet…" she said, her voice hushed. The red fusion turned around to face them, her expression softening slightly,

"Amethyst, Steven," she said, getting to her feet. Steven reached inside his pocket, drawing out the two gems. He held them out in his hands to show Garnet,

"We accidentally popped a bubble," he explained, indicating to the dormant purple gem, "The gem was cracked so I healed it." Garnet patted his head with a soft smile,

"Good work Steven," she said, "I still see many futures where you succeed in this task." Her face grew serious again, "When are we going to tell Pearl?" she asked, looking between the two of them. They hadn't noticed the door to the Burning Room open.

RTDRTDRTD

"Tell me what?" Pearl asked, striding into the room, her hands on her hips and her face set in a frown. Steven quickly shoved his hands in his pockets, hiding the gemstones from sight. Pearl's eyes narrowed when she saw this, "What have you three been doing behind my back?" she asked, sounding terribly hurt. Steven rushed to hug her,

"I'm sorry Pearl," he said, looking up at her with sorrowful eyes, "I was gonna tell you, except the others kinda… ambushed me first." Pearl turned her frown on her teammates,

"Either of you have something to say?" she said, almost shrieking. Neither of them moved.

"Uhh… how about we take this somewhere more comfortable?" Steven suggested and led his silent guardians out of the temple. Seated on the lounge, the gems exchanged glances,

"Are you going to tell me what's going on, Steven?" Pearl asked, folding her arms and frowning,

"Uhh…" Steven hesitated before stuffing his hand in his pockets, drawing out the two dormant gems and laying them on the coffee table, "The truth is, Connie and I found some bubbles on the beach the day before we found Blue." Pearl was still frowning and she turned to the other two gems,

"How could you?" she shrieked, fuming, "How could you two keep something so important from me?" Amethyst slouched on the lounge,

"Welcome to shrug city, P," she said with an eye roll. Garnet said nothing,

"I didn't want to yell, like you're doing right now!" Steven said, scooping up Blue and the pale purple gem and running out the front door and down the beach, the sounds of arguing rising from the house behind him. Once he'd got far enough down the beach, he sat down on the sand and pulled his phone out. He dialled Connie's number, waiting for his friend to pick up her phone.

"Hey Steven!" she answered, "What's up?"

"The gems are fighting again so I left," he replied, "I'm on the beach. Can you come keep me company?"

"Sure," she said, "I'll be there in a minute." She hung up and Steven sat back to wait for her.

RTDRTDRTD

"They could be seriously dangerous!" Pearl argued, pacing back and forth in front of the other two gems on the couch, "They could hurt Steven!" Amethyst sighed,

"Did you hear any of what Garnet just said?" she asked, rolling her eyes at the over dramatic pale gem, "She said Steven's going to be fine. Just trust her. She is the one with future vision, after all."

"Her future vision isn't always accurate, Amethyst," Pearl screeched,

"Calm down Pearl," Garnet said, "It may not be accurate all the time, but it does show the most likely possibilities, which include Steven being absolutely fine and happy." Pearl scowled at the red fusion and stalked off, opening the temple door to her room and disappearing inside.

RTDRTDRTD

"Hey Steven!" Connie said, sitting beside him in the sand. He was holding Blue and the formerly cracked pale purple gem, "What's wrong?"

"Pearl found out about the bubbles," he said sadly, sniffling just a little, "Maybe we were wrong. Maybe this was a bad idea." He flopped back on the sand, looking up at the blue, cloudless sky,

"Do you think we did the right thing, keeping this from Pearl?" he asked,

"I don't know," Connie said, "If we'd said anything earlier, she might have still freaked out. She could have harmed them and Amethyst and Garnet wouldn't have been there to hold her back."

Steven sighed and held up the two gems,

"Yeah, I guess," he said, petting the smooth crystals. Connie reached out and took the pale purple one from him, stroking it softly,

"I hope we did the right thing," she said, "I know you hate it when they fight." Steven nodded and saw Lion approaching, flopping down on the sand beside them.

"Lion's sick of them fighting too," he said, gazing at the pink animal, "I just wish they wouldn't fight so much." He sighed again and looked back up at the vast blue expanses of the sky, hoping that everything would turn out fine.

RTDRTDRTD

Pearl paced back and forth across the smooth surfaces of her tallest fountain, replaying the argument she had just had with Amethyst and Garnet. Usually Garnet would either take her side or break them up, but after Sardonyx, they were still not quite in each other's good books. She sighed and willed the surface of the fountain to break and allow her to slip beneath the water. As the cool water surrounded her physical form, she remembered the argument they had over Lapis. Lapis, the gem who was Steven's friend, Lapis, who had been forced into a mirror for thousands of years. Pearl felt guilty for leaving her in there, even though they had no idea who she was or why she was there. They had fought over Lapis and it had hurt Steven. They were hurting Steven again. She didn't want it to be like this. She wanted to go back in time and free Lapis, so that perhaps, when she was free, she could be their friend instead of fighting against them. Pearl sighed, resting her head on her knees as she tucked them up under her chin. If only things could have gone differently.


	8. What Would Rose Do?

Pearl had been submerged in the fountain for what had seemed like only a few hours. She had lost track of time and had actually been there for a week. Looking up to the surface of the fountain she was in, Pearl gave a heavy sigh. She had cried herself weak, trying to talk herself out of the responsibility of Lapis' suffering, but the guilt clung to her like Rose's sentient moss. Pearl had come to realise that she had to take responsibility for what Lapis had endured. She heard the blue gem's mocking voice echoing through her head, Lapis repeating the orders Pearl had given her whilst she was in the mirror. The glassy white eyes she had seen when the blue gem came out of the mirror haunted her mind. If she were human, she would have been unable to sleep, but she didn't need to sleep, which made it all the more real. Covering her ears, she tried to block out the sounds of Lapis mocking her, even though the voice was inside her head. Pearl could feel herself slipping, losing control. Was this how Lapis had felt inside the mirror? Lapis had been alone for centuries and she had been lucky to have come out of the mirror with her mind in tact. Now, it was Pearl who was alone. Garnet and Amethyst were right. She would have screamed at them if they'd told her earlier. They knew she was unstable, and she had been trying to deny it, but now it was time to accept her fate. Rose's death had doomed her to her fate. Pearl tried to resent her former leader for that matter, but she knew how important having a child had been to Rose, and she couldn't bring herself to hate the woman for it. Steven was, after all, carrying a part of her. Pearl's mind lingered on Rose. What would Rose do? she asked herself, gazing up at the rippling surface of the fountain. Rose, for starters, wouldn't have been in this mess in the first place. She would have been accepting of the new arrivals and would have welcomed them with open arms. Rose would have done what was right. Pearl suddenly found herself feeling even more guilty. Rose would have handled Lapis differently. Rose would have done a lot of things differently. Pearl pushed the palms of her hands into her eyes, trying to stop another wave of exhausted tears from leaking out. She gave a tiny sob and sunk further down into the water.

RTDRTDRTD

Amethyst and Garnet looked down into the fountain in which Pearl was submerged. It had been a week since they had last seen her and Steven had begun to get concerned for her health, even though gems didn't need to sleep, breathe, or eat. Pearl looked absolutely miserable. Amethyst looked to Garnet,

"I'm going in to pull her out," she said, before plunging into the fountain and swimming downwards towards Pearl. Garnet watched as the pale gem didn't even respond when Amethyst grasped her under the arms and began to swim upwards. Breaking the rippling surface of the fountain, Amethyst swam over to the edge and hauled Pearl out before leaping down the fountains and back onto solid ground. Garnet was close behind her. Carrying a limp Pearl, Amethyst left the temple and set Pearl down on the lounge.

"She's too cold to do much," Amethyst said, digging through a fresh load of washing to pull out a clean towel, "We'll get her dried off and give her some tea and then we can all relax." She rubbed the towel over Pearl's head, the taller gem staying silent, which was unusual for her. Garnet wandered off towards the front door,

"I'm going to get Steven, Connie, and Lion," she informed them, "I'll be back soon." Using her jumping abilities, she launched herself off the porch. A fair way down the beach, Garnet landed near Steven and his friends, accidentally crystallising the sand around her feet with the heat generated from the speed of her landing. Amethyst turned away from watching the red fusion on the beach, and back to the unhappy Pearl on the lounge. Pearl's eyelids drooped and Amethyst could see that she was emotionally spent.

"Heya, P," she said softly. Pearl flinched, "You hang in there, I'll go make you some tea." She dashed off into the kitchen and began preparing one of the only things the pale gem liked.

When she returned with the tea, she found Pearl balled up on the lounge, her chin resting on her knees again. Amethyst set the tea down on the coffee table and gently touched Pearl's arm,

"Hey Pearl," she said gently, "I brought you some tea. Don't worry, I made it just the way you like it." She watched as Pearl trembled and slowly uncurled, timidly accepting the tea Amethyst presented her with. As she drank the tea, the front door opened and Garnet herded Connie, Steven, and Lion back inside the house. Pearl looked up at them, her hands beginning to shake,

"I - I'm sorry for losing my temper earlier," she said, giving them a rather weak smile, "I know you were trying to make this easier for me to handle, but I guess I can't quite manage." Garnet sat down beside her, taking one of the gem's shaking hands in her own. Amethyst eased the teacup out of Pearl's other hand, setting it down on the coffee table. The purple gem took the hand in her own, in a rather rare display of gentle affection. Steven and Connie moved closer to her, Steven hugging her and Connie, after a slight moment of hesitation, joining in the hug.

"We forgive you for yelling," Steven said, "But I'm sorry for not telling you about the bubbles."

"Oh, Steven," Pearl said, her soft voice displaying her growing happiness, "I forgive you too."

RTDRTDRTD

"Okay, is that all of them?" Steven asked, setting another blue-green bubble down in the large pillow nest he had made. Connie stepped up beside him,

"No, these are the last two," she said, gently placing two bubbles down on the pillows.

"Okay, that's all!" he said, and then set Blue and the other non-bubbled gem on the pillows too. Connie peered at the bubbles, then picked one with a swirled purple stone up.

"This is Charoite," she said, holding the gem out to the others.

"Rose never mentioned Charoite before," Pearl said, looking thoughtful,

"Of course not," Garnet said from the lounge, "Charoite is older than Ruby and Sapphire and we didn't meet her on Homeworld, so none of us knew her." Steven turned around to the bubbles,

"Should we let all these gems out of their bubbles?" Steven asked,

"Steven, there are fifteen gems - not counting Blue," Garnet said, "We don't know where they're from, what they're like or how old they are, so we might have to hold off until one of these two come back." Steven frowned, and then nodded,

"Yeah, it could get a little crowded," he said, "For now, let's just leave them be and wait for these two to show up." As he said these words, a tremor ran through the ground.

"What was that?" asked Steven, moving to shield the bubbles,

"Earthquake!" Amethyst shouted, diving to the ground,

"Oh no!" Pearl cried, "The temple might fall!" They all rushed outside as one tremor subsided and another began.


	9. She Came From The Sea

They stared up at the house, watching it tremble. As they watched, a brilliant flash of light erupted from inside. Steven gasped, and rushed towards the house before the gems could tug him back,

"She's coming back!" he yelled, bolting up the stairs and throwing the front door open. The gems standing on the beach exchanged glances before pounding up the stairs after him. They burst into the house and saw the pale blue gem rising into the air above the pillow nest on the floor. Steven quickly tugged the nest away as the gem began to take a human form. The glowing figure grew tall and lithe, with long, flowing hair and greek-style robes. The gem's eyes were closed as she slowly descended to the floor, her feet settling as the glow faded. Her eyes opened and the first thing she saw was the three Crystal Gems standing before her. She gasped,

"Where - where am I?" she asked, in a soft voice that was rough from lack of use. Steven slowly approached her side, tugging on her hand,

"You're safe!" he said, "You're with the Crystal Gems! On Earth!" She looked confused,

"I know Earth, but I do not know these… Crystal Gems…" she said, gazing at the three in front of her, "Where are Blue Diamond and General Apatite?" The pale gem before her took a step back, looking uncomfortable,

"They're gone," Garnet said, "They've been gone for about six thousand years." The blue gem looked shocked,

"They - they left me behind?" she gasped, her hands clenching, "They left me behind down there…" Pearl placed a gentle hand on the blue gem's back, guiding her to the lounge to sit down. Gathering around her, the gems were silent in their support. Steven reached out and laid his hand on her knee.

"Hey," he said, "What's your name?" The other gem took a moment to respond to his question,

"Name?" she murmured, seeming confused, "Well, I suppose they call me Larimar."

"Larimar…" Steven repeated, "That's a pretty name." She shrugged,

"Not really," she replied, "It's just the name of my gem." Garnet looked at the other two Crystal Gems,

"We'd best leave them to acquaint themselves," she said, standing up and walking away, "Don't worry, Pearl. Steven and Connie will be fine."

RTDRTDRTD

Steven and Connie sat on either side of Larimar, gazing at her silently,

"So, where are you from, Larimar?" Connie asked, eyes sparkling at the chance to learn from someone new,

"I came from Homeworld a long time ago," she said, gazing off into the distance "But now, I'm from Earth. Homeworld is nothing, not after what they did." Steven and Connie exchanged a worried glance across her,

"Cool!" Connie chirped, "My name is Connie, I'm a human, and I've always been on Earth." She smiled at the new gem, who visibly relaxed,

"I'm Steven!" the boy announced, "I'm from Earth, but sorta not… because I'm also kinda my own mom." Larimar looked questioningly at him but he shrugged, "I don't know that much. You'd be better off talking to Pearl about that."

"Who is Pearl?" Larimar asked. Steven was a little surprised,

"Pearl is the tall one with the nose," he explained, "Garnet is the tallest one, but she's really a fusion of two tiny gems, Ruby and Sapphire, Amethyst is the short and purple one, and I'm a confusing mix of gem and human!" Larimar nodded, seeming to understand.

"So… why did we find you on the beach two weeks ago?" Connie asked, curious to know,

"Yeah, did you come from the ocean?" Steven asked excitedly,

"I - yes, I came from what you call the 'ocean'," Larimar replied, gazing out the window of the house to the blue expanse stretching toward the horizon, "The ocean has been my… home for many years."

"So Homeworld just left you here, huh?" he asked, looking down at the wooden floor,

"It appears so," she replied, "I thought General Apatite would have at least stayed behind, but she is gone." Larimar turned away from the sea and stared at objects inside the house,

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Steven asked, being careful to consider her feelings,

"I - yes," she replied, "I would like to tell you about the ocean." Connie looked up and saw the mellow look on her face,

"You don't have to," she said softly, "If you don't wanna think about it." Larimar shook her head,

"No," she said, clasping her hands together, "It would feel better to finally be able to talk to anyone other than myself for a change." With that, she calmed herself and began telling them about the temple in the sea.

RTDRTDRTD

"When I came to Earth with Blue Diamond," She began, "It was over six thousand years ago, well before what I assume was a war. It was at a time when Homeworld had little resources to spend on constructing buildings, so they began testing a new technology. It was a cuff designed to run off a gem's energy, whilst still keeping the gem in their physical form. The cuff would use the energy to project a temple structure. The temple could be used for research and production which, when complete, could be picked up and moved. I was the gem working under General Apatite's command." Larimar stopped to recollect herself before continuing, "I worked with General Apatite's lead team for centuries until one mission where we had set up base just off the coast of this place. They received an order from Blue Diamond herself and suddenly, they all left. Being the gem attached to the temple's power source, I had to stay behind to care for our mission. They never came back." She sighed and slumped against the back of the lounge. Steven reached out and hugged her, with Connie joining him a moment later.

"Larimar, it will be okay," he told her, "You're not in the sea anymore, and the cuff is gone. You're safe." She gave him a shocked look, a few tears welling up in her pale blue eyes,

"Thank you, Steven, Connie," she said softly, "This is the first time I've talked to anyone bigger than fish in ages." As Steven hugged her, the temple door opened and Amethyst came out into the house,

"Hey Steven! Hey Connie!" she greeted, "Do you guys wanna come and introduce your new friend to human culture?" The resounding chorus of 'yes' was all the answer she needed and the children helped Amethyst shoo an unsure Larimar out of the house and down onto the beach.

RTDRTDRTD

"Where are we going?" Larimar asked as Steven tugged her down the beach toward the human settlement. Amethyst and Connie were walking just behind them.

"We're introducing you to the wonders of donuts first!" Amethyst announced as they approached the Big Donut.

"What is a 'donut'?" Larimar asked. Steven smiled up at her,

"It's human food!" he announced, pulling her inside the shop. She watched as he approached the two humans behind the counter,

"Hi Sadie! Hey Lars!" He greeted, looking at the donuts in the display.

"Woah Steven," Sadie gushed, "Who's your new friend?" Steven pulled Larimar up to the counter,

"This is Larimar," he said, "She's from the ocean!" he turned to his new friend, "Hey, what sort of donut do you want?"

"Uhh…" the blue gem hesitated and Sadie decided to help out,

"Well, seeing as you're trying donuts for the first time, how about we start with something simple?" she suggested, selecting two cinnamon donuts and sliding them into a paper bag, "Here, try these." Steven reached into his pocket to pull out some money,

"Can we also get two chocolate donuts for me, two apple ones for Connie and two grape donuts for Amethyst?" he requested, beaming as Sadie bagged the treats. He slid the money across the counter to Sadie and smiled up at Larimar,

"You guys enjoy your donuts, okay?" Sadie said, waving as they headed for the door, "Welcome to Beach City, Larimar!"


	10. History Lesson

Pearl glanced at Larimar as the pale blue gem inspected some books Steven had left on the coffee table. The others had gone on a mission and left her behind to mind the house, which meant taking care of the newest gem. Pearl remembered when Amethyst had carried the unconscious blue gem through the door, and the night she spent sitting beside the gem, watching over her and treating her injuries.

"Larimar," she said, the other gem jumping slightly as if startled, "Will you tell me about your history?" The other gem turned and made her way to sit awkwardly beside Pearl,

"I have told some of it to Steven," she said, "Did you not hear it from him?" Pearl shook her head,

"No, I want to hear for myself," she replied, resting a calming hand on the blue gem's knee. The blue gem relaxed slightly and drew an unnecessary breath before beginning her story.

RTDRTDRTD

"I was created on Homeworld, long before they had begun to conquer other planets for setting up more Kindergartens," Larimar said, folding her hands neatly in her lap, "Back then, Homeworld still had a certain beauty about it that one saw if you looked past the growing laboratories and the beginnings of the Diamond Authority. At that time, there were still four Diamonds. I was created to work for Blue Diamond, but I was not created to be part of her army. My sole purpose was to be part of a mission team. After I finished training, I was shipped off to my first team, which was led by a cruel gem called Musgravite. We were to set up and maintain a small base on Gliese 436 b. I was partners with a reckless Tourmaline gem. Whilst on patrol, she broke orders to assist a struggling Beryl. Musgravite crushed that poor Beryl's gem and got Blue Diamond to reassign Tourmaline and I and placed us under General Apatite, who kept me and had Tourmaline bubbled. There were about seventy missions before the team returned to Homeworld. When we got back, we were given a new mission. We were sent to Earth with four other teams. Homeworld had added to the punishment for being reassigned before completing my first mission by forcing me into the cuff. They took me to Earth to use me as a portable base, which was created by the cuff using my gem's energy to build a temple. It soon became clear to us that we were staying on Earth for a while and that Earth had something different about it. The team was used for multiple missions on Earth so much so that Homeworld never bothered calling us back to receive new missions in person. We stayed there well after the other three teams were sent out again and replaced by several different divisions from all four Diamonds." She stopped for a moment to recollect herself before she spoke about the last mission her team worked on,

"Are you all right?" Pearl asked, concerned that asking the blue gem to speak about her difficult history might hurt her,

"Yes, yes, I'm fine," Larimar insisted, before returning to her story, "The last mission our team had been on required us to survey the ocean floor near here and find a suitable test site for something Homeworld wanted. During the mission, General Apatite got a call and she and the rest of the team left. None of them returned. No one ever found my temple and after that and then six thousand years passed before an earthquake injured me enough to accelerate the shut down process that wearing the cuff eventually resulted in. After that, the rest is really muddled but somehow I ended up in here." She looked Pearl in the eyes with complete seriousness, "Thank you, Pearl, for you and your team being kind enough to save me."

RTDRTDRTD

An hour had passed after Pearl had returned to her room when Garnet, Amethyst, and Steven finally returned to the temple. Larimar was sitting on the lounge, reading one of Steven's books, and when the warp pad activated, she put the book down to greet them. Garnet stepped off the warp pad, a piece of old technology in her arms. She set it down on the kitchen counter, and turned to where the temple door had opened to let Pearl exit,

"Pearl, I'm going to need the remnants of that cuff," Garnet said as the pale gem stepped into the house,

"Garnet, are you really going to do this around her?" Pearl asked, gesturing to Larimar, "She was trapped in it for over six thousand years. Surely she would rather never see it again!" Garnet gave her a judging look,

"I'm sure she wants to know about it," Garnet said, holding out her hand for the cuff, "Besides, she's gonna be the only one who knows more about it than we do." Pearl huffed but reached into her gem and pulled out the mangled remains of the old cuff. She handed it to Garnet and walked over to the counter, peering down at the machine,

"This thing shouldn't be too hard to get running, right Garnet?" Pearl asked, touching parts and examining it,

"Yeah P, you just plug it into the wall," Amethyst said, snatching the machine from the counter, "Like so!" Amethyst shoved the power cord into the socket in the wall and set the machine down.

"I - I didn't think it'd be so simple," Pearl stuttered, bewildered. Garnet ignored them in favour of powering up the machine. A blue stream of light shot out from the centre panel and four old-style hologram screens popped up, two on either side of the light stream.

"What now?" Amethyst asked, watching Garnet closely. The red fusion said nothing and slipped the mangled cuff into the blue light. It floated in the stream as the machine scanned it.

"Larimar," Garnet called, startling the nervous blue gem, "Can you come here?" The pale blue gem said nothing as she scurried to Garnet's side, "How much do you know about this cuff?" the fusion asked her,

"I know it runs on the energy produced by the wearer's gem," she said, gazing at the twisted, crushed metal, "There was a key that was inserted into the yellow diamond which forced the temple to go back into the cuff. It also restricted my use of my gem, because it needed all that energy to keep the temple standing. I don't know much more about it." Garnet gave her a rare smile,

"That is fine," she said, speaking softly, "Now we've probably got all the information we'll need, just incase we find more of these cuffs." Larimar gave Garnet a shy smile before wordlessly returning to the lounge where she had left her book. The other gems returned to the temple and Steven and Connie ran for the beach, leaving her to read in silence.


	11. Think Of The Children

"Come on Larimar!" Steven shouted, excited to take his new friend to the town to meet his other friends. Waving goodbye to the Crystal Gems, he tugged her out the door and towards the town.

"Where are we going, Steven?" she asked, not really knowing much of the town well.

"We're gonna go see my dad!" he exclaimed, tugging her towards a building labeled 'It's A Wash'.

"What's a dad?" she asked, confused by the difference between Homeworld's culture and her new experiences on Earth.

"Oh!" Steven exclaimed, "I forgot! Gems don't have dads." He frowned, looking for the best way to explain a 'dad' to an ancient being who knew nothing about having parents, "Well, I guess, dads are the one of the people who can teach you stuff, tell you about life, raise you to be a decent person. All that stuff."

"And there are other people who do this job too?" Larimar asked, glad to be learning the simple aspects of human life,

"Yeah," Steven said, "There are moms too, and teachers - who actually get paid to teach!"

"Human culture is… fascinating, but also difficult," Larimar remarked, gazing in wonder at the structures around them, "It's wonderful!" She beamed happily, taking in the new sights.

"Let's go and find my dad!" Steven said, tugging her around the corner of the building. Sitting on a chair in the sun was a man whose skin was almost completely red. Steven ran towards the man,

"Dad, Dad, Dad!" he shouted, causing the old man to sit up, his sunglasses falling off his face.

"Oh, hey Steven!" he said, hugging his son. When he looked up from the short boy, he spotted the pale blue gem standing nearby, "Steven, who's your new friend?" he asked. His son ran off towards the blue woman and tugged her over towards him,

"Dad, this is Larimar," he said, smiling brightly, "Larimar, this is my dad, but you can call him Greg."

"Hello… Greg," she said, uncertain of what humans do in this situation,

"Hey Larimar," the man replied, equally uncertain, "Steven, is she another gem? Because the Crystal Gems really don't want me getting involved with all this magic stuff…" Larimar quickly flipped her hand over to reveal the blue and white gem on her palm. Greg gulped,

"Aha okay," he said, sweat running off his balding head, and looked relieved when a car pulled into the carwash, "Okay, Steven I've got to go. You be safe." The nervous man hurried away and Larimar looked after him with questioning eyes,

"Let's go to Fish Stew Pizza!" Steven exclaimed. He tugged Larimar down the road towards the pizza shop.

Bursting through the door of the pizza shop, Steven bounded over to the counter, Larimar in tow. Sour Cream and Buck Dewey were loitering by the back wall of the shop and Steven greeted them,

"Hey Sour Cream! Hey Buck!" he exclaimed as Jenny Pizza stepped out of the back room, "Hi Jenny!" Sour Cream greeted him with a peace sign,

"Hey Steven," he said, eyeing Larimar with curiosity,

"Hey who's your cool friend?" Jenny asked, spotting Larimar. Steven beamed at them,

"Everyone, this is Larimar," he told them, "She's from the ocean!"

"The ocean, huh?" Buck said, "That's pretty cool."

"Thank you, I think," Larimar said, a little confused by the human's modern vocabulary.

"Well, I just finished off my shift," Jenny said, "Wanna come hang?" When Larimar looked confused, Steven explained,

"She means 'Would you like to have fun with us?'." Larimar nodded in understanding,

"Yes, I would like to try some forms of human entertainment," she said, following the three older humans out the door of the place called Fish Stew Pizza. They approached a metal box and the three humans and Steven climbed into it.

"What is this contraption?" she asked, reaching out to touch the yellow metal surface,

"This is a car!" Steven exclaimed, "I don't know much about how cars work, but maybe Pearl could tell you!" Larimar cocked her head to the side before climbing into the 'car' with Steven.

"All right!" Jenny exclaimed, "Where to?"

"Beach Citywalk Fries!" Steven said, bouncing in his seat, "Lets go get the bits!" Jenny started the car and drove them down to the boardwalk where the shop was, and Larimar clutched Steven's arm the whole way there. Once Jenny had parked and turned off the car, Larimar scrambled to get out of the metal contraption. The blue gem was grateful to get her feet back on stable ground, and Steven giggled,

"You're gonna have to get used to the car soon," he said, tugging her over to the shop, his friends trailing behind them. Steven rested his arms on the counter,

"Hey Peedee!" he greeted the youngest Fryman, Ronaldo appeared in the store behind his little brother, and Steven saw him, "Hey Ronaldo!" Ronaldo looked up from his phone and gaped at the blue gem standing beside Steven.

"You want the bits?" Peedee asked, and Steven nodded. As the youngest Fryman pulled the leftover bits out of the frier and put them in a bag, Ronaldo gaped at the new gem,

"This is Larimar, Ronaldo," he said, and then turned to his blue friend, "Ronaldo runs a blog about Beach City." Ronaldo pulled himself together,

"Can I get a picture for my blog?" he asked, and Larimar looked confused again,

"Sure…?" she said, uncertain of what this action required her to do. Steven looked up at her,

"All you have to do for the moment is smile," he told her. She followed Steven's direction and smiled, the small black rectangle in Ronaldo's hands emitting a flash of light before the boy hurried off with a spring in his step. Peedee stepped up to the counter,

"Here's your fries, Steven, Larimar," he said. Steven slid him some money and then he and the blue gem walked off down the boardwalk with Jenny, Sour Cream, and Buck following behind them.

RTDRTDRTD

Back at the beach house, Steven and Larimar sat on the lounge. The blue gem turned the final page of the book Steven had lent her. Setting it down on the lounge, she looked up at Steven,

"So, what did you think?" he asked, eager to hear her thoughts on his favourite book,

"Some of it was hard to understand, but I liked the books," she said, her eyes drifting to the painting over the doorway. She hadn't noticed it before. She studied the pink haired woman in the picture. She was beautiful. Larimar wondered if this was the woman that General Apatite had talked about on that night when they were alone in the temple.

Steven noticed that Larimar's attention had shifted and he followed her gaze to the portrait of his mother on the wall. He looked back at the blue gem,

"What's wrong?" he asked her, breaking Larimar from her thoughts.

"Who is that woman?" she asked, turning to Steven.

"That's my mom!" he said, pointing to the painting. Pearl wandered in from the kitchen and sat beside the blue gem,

"Yes, that is Steven's mother," Pearl confirmed, "Her name is Rose Quartz and she was our brave leader." Larimar turned to Pearl with a questioning glance,

"How come she's not here?" she asked, immediately regretting it when she saw Pearl tense up,

"She - she gave up her form to bring Steven into the world," she said, her face showing the sorrow she was feeling, "She gave him her gem, and, to a certain extent, she is part of him."

"Is that what you meant when you said that you are 'kinda my own mom'?" Larimar asked, looking at Steven. He nodded,

"It's really complex," he said, hugging Pearl when he noticed her misery,

"I though gems weren't built for reproduction with other species," she said, her brows furrowing,

"They usually aren't," Pearl said, glancing at the painting of Rose, "Gems created before Homeworld started expanding to other planets are usually capable of bearing offspring from other species, but then they brought in Kindergartens and the Diamond Authority stopped the practice, leaving the genes to die out. Sometimes there are throwbacks in gems, or accidents in the Kindergarten but usually, any non-Kindergarten gem was of direct lineage to the old generation and the Diamonds themselves." Pearl paused in her lesson to lick her lips as if she were nervous, "Rose Quartz was of the old generation. That's why she was able to carry Steven, but from what Rose told me, most inter-species breeding didn't usually result in a gem mother having to give up her physical form to become part of the child."

The three sat in silence for a few moments. Steven was the one to break the silence,

"Wow," he said, then his tummy growled, "I'm hungry." Pearl patted him on the head,

"I'll make you two lunch," she said, respecting Larimar's wishes to become acquainted with human foods. As Pearl stepped inside the kitchen, something in Steven's room let out a bright beam of light,

"Woah!" Steven exclaimed. Pearl hurried out of the kitchen and she and Steven hurried up the stairs, with Larimar close behind them. The pale purple gem which had been resting on a pillow on the floor was now hovering in midair, pulsing with light as it began to take a human form.

"She's regenerating!" Steven shouted in excitement, before covering his eyes as the light shone brighter and enveloped the whole room in white.


	12. The Kids Are All Right

When the bright light dimmed, Steven peeked through a gap in his fingers. The newly regenerated purple gem floated down until her feet landed on the floor. The pale purple gem's eyes shot open as her senses flared to life, alerting her to the two gems and one gem hybrid standing before her. Her hand was half way to the gem on her chest when the gem hybrid spoke,

"Wait!" he cried, "Stop!" She gave him a glance, lowering her hand as she drilled into him with eyes of the palest blue. The boy spoke again, "We didn't mean to scare you!" The purple gem allowed her posture to relax a fraction as she took in the gems standing before her. The pale blue gem who stood at the back of the group seemed familiar, as though she had known her at some point in time. The small gem hybrid began to speak again,

"Hello! My name is Steven!" he said, almost vibrating with excitement, "Welcome to planet Earth!"

The pale purple gem arched one delicate eyebrow,

"Planet Earth?" she questioned, "My orders did not include a visit to Earth. I must see Rose Quartz immediately to tell her of this set back." The thin pale gem behind Steven flinched at the name,

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Pearl asked, a frown settling on her face,

"I am Lavender Chalcedony," the purple gem said. Steven and Pearl exchanged a glance,

"How do we tell her about what happened to Rose?" Steven whispered to Pearl. She shook her head,

"I don't know Steven," she whispered back, then cleared her throat and spoke normally, "Chalcedony, Rose is unavailable for contact. We can not assist you in that." The pale purple gem frowned, but before she could say anything, the pale blue gem at the back of the group spoke up,

"Lavender?" she asked, "I have not seen you in centuries." The purple gem frowned, before realisation crossed her face and she broke into a bright smile, walking towards the blue gem,

"Larimar?" she asked, shocked, "Where have you been?" The blue gem embraced her purple friend,

"Oh Lavender, it was miserable!" she said, her blue eyes filling with tears, "I was trapped in that wretched cuff for six thousand years under the sea!" The purple gem held her tightly,

"I'm so sorry, Larimar," she said, stroking her friend's hair, "I shouldn't have been so reckless."

"I know," the blue gem said, lifting her face from Lavender's shoulder, "You only wanted to help me."

"But I couldn't," Lavender said mournfully, "And General Apatite still hurt you."

Amethyst pounded up the stairs to Steven's room, Garnet just behind her. She looked at the scene before her, Larimar wrapped in the embrace of an unknown gem, Steven looking on with the biggest smile, and Pearl standing awkwardly by the wall,

"I'm sorry to interrupt," she said, causing the two hugging gems to turn to face her, "But who in the name of the Diamond Authorities is that?"

"I'm Lavender Chalcedony," the taller purple gem said, her arms still around the teary blue gem. The short purple gem huffed,

"You took your sweet time," Amethyst said, folding her arms as she observed the taller purple gem,

"Leave her be, Amethyst," Garnet said, stepping forward to greet the new gem,

"Hello Chalcedony," she said, extending a hand in a welcoming gesture, "Welcome to our temple."

"Please, I go by Lavender," the purple gem said, taking the offered hand and executing the customary greeting movement of shaking hands, before returning to her original purpose, "Now, where can I contact Rose Quartz from?" she asked, and the gems before her tensed.

RTDRTDRTD

After checking if Pearl wanted to go back to her room in the temple, she, Garnet, Amethyst, and Steven sat Lavender down on the lounge, and told her about what had happened to Rose. Lavender had wept for her former leader and Steven hugged her, before reminding her that Rose was part of him. He had dried her tears and she hugged the young gem hybrid. She was still hugging Steven, this time with Larimar beside her, when she had a sudden thought,

"Larimar?" she asked, looking up from Steven's curly black hair, "What happened to them? Your gemlings?" Larimar looked down at her lap, her face becoming mournful,

"General Apatite took them away, just hours after they hatched" she said, tearing up again, "I hardly got to see them before she bubbled them." Lavender pulled her blue friend into a hug,

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said, stroking the blue gem's hair, "If I'd only been there-" The blue gem hushed her,

"But you weren't, and it happened," she said, wiping her tears away. Steven, who had backed off to allow Lavender to comfort her friend, spoke up,

"What are gemlings?" he asked. The room fell silent, Pearl and Garnet exchanging a look, as if silently asking each other to explain to the young child but it was Larimar who stepped in to answer the question,

"Gemlings are young gems, almost the gem equivalent of a human child," she said, thinking of her own brood of gemlings, "They are created through a dance between gems, which means sometimes, it happens during fusion. It was the way gems reproduced before the Kindergartens." Larimar sniffled and wiped her eyes again, "Then the Diamonds decided that the process was too time wasting and were eager to stop the gems from continuing to produce hybrid offspring with other races, so they stopped the practice and brought in the Kindergartens."

"So why did General Apatite bubble your gemlings?" Steven asked, not noticing Pearl twitching because of his lack of manners regarding such a sensitive topic. Larimar sighed and Lavender continued to comfort her friend,

"She bubbled them because they were the results of us fusing, and she had no time to care for a brood of young gems," the blue gem leaned back against Lavender, as the purple gem stroked her hair, "It wasn't long after that incident when she made me put on the cuff for the first time, which was as soon as we had gotten back to Homeworld. Then we were sent to Earth and General Apatite took the bubbles everywhere, eventually leaving them in the temple when they abandoned me." The blue gem turned away and hid her face in Lavender's shoulder again. Steven felt bad for bringing up a topic which was so sensitive. He wanted to tell her about the bubbles, but he was unsure if Larimar would be upset by this. He decided to tell her,

"Larimar…" he began, searching for the words he wanted to say, "I'm sorry for asking you about them, but I have something for you." He darted away, running up the stairs to his room and pulling one of the bubbles from the nest. Carefully carrying the bubbled silvery-blue gem, he went downstairs, approaching the upset blue gem on the lounge, "Is this one of them?" he asked softly. The blue gem turned around, her eyes widening as she saw the bubbled gem. She held out her shaking hands and he handed her the blue-green bubble. Larimar and Lavender peered into the bubble, staring at the silvery-blue gem,

"Angelite," she whispered before looking up at Steven, "Where did you get this?" Steven hugged her again,

"I found a bunch of them on the beach," he said, releasing her from the hug, "There's more upstairs!" Larimar gaped at him, and rose from the couch to follow him to where her gemlings were. She had only taken one step towards the stairs when a loud crash and the sound of breaking glass came from the big windows in Steven's room. Steven darted up the stairs and took in the damage. On the floor, surrounded by sparkling pieces of broken glass, lay a very familiar blue gem.


	13. Water Witch

"Lapis!" Steven cried when he saw the blue gem laying amongst the shattered glass. The other gems bolted upstairs when they heard him and stared down at the blue gem,

"Well?" Larimar prompted, "What are we going to do with her?"

"I dunno," Amethyst said, leaning against the wall, "She did steal the ocean, but she also flew through a window just now."

"We should bubble her," Pearl said, looking down at Lapis,

"Are you stupid?!" Larimar exclaimed, picking the blue gem up off the floor, "She's injured! It doesn't matter if she stole the ocean! She needs help!" Pearl frowned,

"Larimar, she could be dangerous!" Pearl scolded, frowning at Larimar. The pale blue gem fumed,

"Well, you helped me!" she shouted, clutching the other blue gem tightly, "I could have been dangerous!"

"She does have a point," Garnet said, not moving from where she stood, "Larimar could have been dangerous. Rose might have thought we could have been dangerous." Pearl frowned at the red fusion,

"Exactly!" Larimar exclaimed, "Besides, hasn't Lapis suffered enough?"

"Can everyone just stop fighting?" Steven asked, clutching onto Larimar, "We're going to help Lapis whether you like it or not!"

"Listen to Steven, everyone," Garnet said, before turning to go back downstairs. Larimar followed behind her with Lapis cradled in her arms.

RTDRTDRTD

As they laid Lapis down on the lounge, the blue gem stirred, groaning softly as she shifted her sore body. With another groan, the blue gem's eyes shot open, widening at the sight of the Crystal Gems hovering above her.

"Back off guys!" said the familiar voice of Steven, "You're freaking her out!" The Crystal Gems disappeared from her line of vision and were replaced with Steven's smiling face, and a pale blue gem hovering behind him.

"Hey Steven," she croaked, cracking a weak smile,

"Are you all right Lapis?" he asked, suddenly frowning, "'Cause you just crashed through a window…"

"I - I think I'm fine," she said, attempting to sit up. Larimar rested a hand on her shoulder and encouraged her to lay back down.

"You don't look fine," Steven told her, "But don't worry! Me and Larimar are gonna take good care of you!" He looked up to the pale blue gem and she nodded in confirmation. The darker blue gem furrowed her brow,

"Larimar?" she wondered aloud, "Have we met?" Larimar thought back to her time in the temple, searching for a memory of the darker blue gem.

"It was a long time before the war," Larimar said, "And well before the mission in the ocean…" She thought harder, "I remember now! You flew up to us on the sky spire with a message from Blue Diamond!" Lapis laughed,

"The look that General Apatite gave us when I almost knocked you off the spire?" Lapis reminded the other blue gem, "That was priceless!"

"Yeah! Remember how useless our communicators were back then?" Larimar said, laughing, "We couldn't even get any signal on the spire!"

"Blue Diamond was so angry that she almost tossed a Chrysoprase into space!" Lapis said, recalling the face of the terrified gem with seafoam coloured hair, her pale blue tunic clutched in the angry fist of her dark blue leader. Larimar gasped,

"Oh! Was she hurt?" she asked, worried for the gem she had met on the ship to Earth. Chrysoprase was Apatite's sister, and one of her few trusted friends,

"Nah, she's a fighter," Lapis said, "She was fine." Lapis sat upright as if she had suddenly remembered something, "Speaking of fighters…" she said, drawing something out of her gem, "Look who I've got!" Lapis exclaimed. Larimar gasped,

"It's that brute that hung out with Musgravite whilst I was in training!" she said, holding her hand out for the sharp orange stone. It was warm in her palm, "Apatite didn't like her." She recalled the glaring matches that occurred between the two gems when they had encountered one another in the hallways of Homeworld, and she, a year below them, had scurried out of the way, watching from a safe distance until blows were traded or one of her classmates dragged her away.

RTDRTDRTD

They talked and laughed about memories of Homeworld, training, and their time before the ocean mission and the mirror, but their enjoyment was cut short when Pearl entered the house from the temple and gasped loudly, drawing the attention of the other three gems, Garnet and Amethyst shooting to their feet, whilst Lavender remained seated on Steven's bed, watching one of the things he called 'cartoons'.

"She has Jasper's gem!" Pearl exclaimed, drawing her spear,

"Relax, birdbrain," Lapis said, laying back on the lounge, "It's not like she can do anything when she's stuck like this." She turned the gem over, revealing what the others thought was a large crack in her gem. Amethyst relaxed,

"She's right, P," the short purple gem said, "I mean, even if she did come back, she's still gonna be weakened by the damage." Pearl rolled her eyes. Garnet said nothing.

"Can we just bubble her already?!" Pearl shouted, reaching out to snatch the orange gem from Lapis, who dodged the gem's hands.

"How about we all shut up!" Lapis said, clutching Jasper's gem, "Just shut up and look after the gems we already have here!" For the first time during the fight, Garnet moved,

"She's right, you know," the red fusion said, "We do need to take care of the gems we already have." Amethyst nodded,

"Yeah," she said, "Get things in control before we do more, ya know?" Larimar and Lavender, who had come downstairs, nodded in agreement. Steven, who had been oddly silent during the argument, finally spoke up,

"Yeah!" He said, before taking Jasper from Lapis, "Don't worry Jasper. We won't leave you in there forever." Pearl opened her mouth to argue, but was silenced by a stern look from Garnet. She shut her mouth and frowned. Steven patted Jasper's gem before enclosing it in a pink bubble. Instead of sending it away, he took the bubble upstairs, carefully stepping over a swept up pile of broken glass and stashing the bubble in his closet. Garnet said nothing and silently handed Pearl a broom,

"We need to fix Steven's window," she said, before disappearing inside the temple again. The other gems slowly returned to what they had been doing, Lapis picking a book from the shelf and opening it to the first page, Larimar reading over Lapis' shoulder and Lavender, who discovered the episode of the 'cartoon' had ended, wound up laid across the two gem's laps, half asleep as Larimar absent-mindedly stroked her hair.


	14. Release

"Lapis, will you and Larimar tell me about Blue Diamond?" Steven asked, seated on the darker blue gem's lap. The two blue gems exchanged a glance. Steven had been begging for this information for a few days by now, and they could no longer distract him with the installation of his new window, and it was raining outside, so they couldn't go out either,

"Is it time to tell him?" Larimar asked her darker blue companion in a whisper, "Is he ready?"

"He should know," Lapis replied in a whisper, "It's not just our history. It's his history too." Larimar glanced down at Steven, who was eagerly waiting for a response,

"Yes, Steven," she said, "We'll tell you about Blue Diamond." Steven beamed,

"Cool!" he exclaimed, "Lemme call Connie. She'll want in on this too!" He pulled out his phone and quickly dialled his friend's number, bounding away to talk to her, excitement in his voice. Larimar sighed,

"Are we making the right choice?" she asked. Lapis shrugged,

"We won't know until it's over," she said, slouching on the lounge to wait for Steven's friend to arrive.

RTDRTDRTD

The front door opened and Steven and Connie rushed inside the house, stripping off their wet weather gear and rushing to the lounge where the two blue gems were sat,

"Tell us! Tell us!" Steven chanted, his eyes wide and starry. Lapis and Larimar exchanged a look, and Lapis sighed, before clearing her throat,

"A long time ago, before most of us had been created, there were the Diamonds," she said, Larimar resting a comforting hand on her shoulder, "There were four Diamonds back then, White Diamond, Yellow Diamond, Blue Diamond and Pink Diamond." Lapis paused for a moment, "Larimar and I were created to serve Blue Diamond," she said, remembering bowing before the blue gem to pledge her service, "We were both created in the time before the Kindergartens - although Larimar is older than I am-, created by two gems fusing and geodes developing inside the carrier's gem. All gems were cared for by either the parent gems, or the Diamond-run program, until they were a few centuries old, when they were sent to training under their assigned Diamond leaders. They trained until they either passed the required amount of time or were promoted, then they got assigned to mission teams, service or Homeworld-based positions. Larimar and I were part of a large section of Blue Diamond's team who were sent to Earth, Larimar after that horrible mission on Gliese 436 b, and I came fresh out of training. I was a messenger for Blue Diamond herself, so I was based at the Sanctuary for most of my time before the mirror." Lapis stopped and looked to Larimar, urging her to continue the story,

"I arrived as part of General Apatite's mission team, which all of you know," Larimar began, "But I had very little contact with Blue Diamond herself whilst I was on Earth. Most of my memories of her are from training on Homeworld, so when they abandoned me, I thought Blue Diamond must have needed them for something quick. I didn't realise it had been six thousand years."

"I guess you wouldn't have any sense of time when you're deep underwater," Connie said. Larimar shrugged,

"It just… turned into what felt like a really long day," she said, "Except I couldn't tell whether it was day or night."

"Wow, that really sucks!" Steven said before jumping up onto the lounge to hug the two blue gems. Lapis and Larimar exchanged a smile over the small boy's shoulders before Connie joined in the hug too.

RTDRTDRTD

The sky outside was dark and cloudy, rain pelting from the sky and beating against the roof of the beach house. Inside, Steven sat with Connie on the floor in front of the lounge, where Larimar, Lapis and Amethyst were seated. Lavender was laying on the floor of Steven's room, her head hanging over the edge so she could observe the activity in the house. From her vantage point, she could see Pearl making tea in the kitchen and Garnet leaning against the counter. She peered down at Lapis, noticing that she was reading a book. The pages were filled with text and glossy pictures, depicting vases, urns and paintings done by humans. She noticed Lapis hadn't turned the page in a while. Lavender watched as Lapis shut the book and turned to Larimar,

"Larimar…" the darker blue gem said, waiting for her friend to respond. When the pale blue gem took her eyes off the book, Lapis continued, "Can I see the gemlings?" When she got no response for a short time, the darker blue gem began to fret, "I - I'm sorry," she said, wringing her hands, "You don't have to if you don't want to." Lapis looked down at her hands, tugging her fingers. Larimar reached out towards her friend and lifted her chin,

"It's all right Lapis," she said before turning to Steven, "Steven? Can we see the bubbles?" Steven got to his feet and bounded up the stairs, calling the gems and Connie to follow him. Lavender, who was already there, sat upright as Steven reached the top.

Soon, all the gems were gathered in Steven's small bedroom, Connie, Amethyst, and Pearl taking a seat on the bed to make more room for the others. Steven had gone behind the television to retrieve the make-shift bubble nest from the corner. As he dragged the nest out into the room, the gems gathered around it, Connie jumping off the bed to get a closer look, with Amethyst and Pearl close behind her. Larimar kneeled in front of the nest, reaching out to lay her hand on one of the bubbles. The bubble seemed to quiver under her touch, as if recognising some important connection between them. Steven picked up the bubble containing the red gem, holding it out to Larimar,

"Who's this?" Steven asked. Larimar took the bubble, which did not react as the other bubble had.

"She's not one of my gemlings," the pale blue gem said, examining the red gem, "This is Spinel. She and I were close. She was on a mission team for Rose Quartz, but was bubbled before we even got to Earth." She handed Spinel's bubble back to Steven and picked up the one containing a swirly purple gem, which Connie had identified as Charoite,

"Charoite was an old gem on Rose's team," she said, as Lavender kneeled down beside her to rest a hand on the purple gem's bubble, "She was a mentor to both myself and Lavender. I don't know what happened to her, but she must have angered General Apatite." Taking her hand off the bubble, which Lavender then scooped up, Larimar reached for another bubble containing a bright blue gem which was larger than those in the remaining bubbles,

"Tourmaline," she said softly, pressing her face to the surface of the bubble, "I knew General Apatite bubbled her, but I thought she had thrown her out of the space ship." She was clutching the bubble too tightly and Steven watched as its shimmering surface rippled and then popped, leaving Larimar to scramble to catch the falling gem. The pale blue gem scooped the falling gem out of the air and held it tightly. She looked up at the other gems,

"I think it's time we free them," she said, turning back to her gemlings, "They've been in there far too long." None of the other gems voiced any objections they may have had, instead remembering what happened to Lapis. Lavender squeezed the blue-green bubble containing Charoite, popping the bubble as Larimar began to free the first of her children from their bubble prisons. Steven popped Spinel and sat her down on a free cushion, watching Larimar pop the rest of the bubbles. Once all the gems were freed, they laid them down in the pillow nest and counted to make sure all were accounted for. There were fourteen - three older gems and eleven gemlings. Steven hugged Larimar and Lavender, beaming up at the other gems gathered around them. Garnet ruffled his hair,

"Well done, Steven," she said, readjusting her visor and giving him a rare smile. Steven hugged her leg before turning back toward the pillow nest. All that was left to do was to wait for them to regenerate.


	15. Children Of The Universe

Waiting for the gemlings to regenerate was taking a while. Steven sighed and flopped down on his back, staring up at the ceiling. It was the day after they had freed the gems from their bubbles and the Crystal Gems had gone on a mission, one which he was not allowed to come on. They had warped out after breakfast, leaving Steven, Lapis, Larimar, Lavender, and the regenerating gems in the house. He had called Connie and asked her to come over and now they were both sitting beside the pillow nest, waiting for something to happen. It felt like they had been waiting forever.

"I'm hungry," Steven announced, rolling over to look up at Connie, "Do you want to make sandwiches?" His friend nodded and they both bounded downstairs into the kitchen. Steven pulled all the ingredients out to make his perfect sandwich and began to put it together, using peanut butter, jam and honey. His sandwich making was interrupted by a small flash of bright white light.

"Did you see that?" Connie asked, abandoning her sandwich in favour of the sudden light show.

"Yeah!" Steven said, whirling around to glance at the warp pad, "Well, it's not the Crystal Gems coming back. Larimar is out doing the washing with Lapis, and I think Lavender's sitting on the roof, so it's not any of them…" Steven thought for a moment before he gasped, "The gemlings!" he cried, rushing toward the stairs.

RTDRTDRTD

"Look, we've been here for hours and we still can't find this thing!" Pearl exclaimed, pulling more brambles out of her hair and clothes, "Are you sure you saw it here Garnet?" The red gem's face was blank,

"Yes," she answered, before striding away to check in another patch of spiked shrubbery, "And we're going to keep looking until we find it." Pearl huffed and returned to searching for the gem monster.

"P, the quicker we find this thing, the quicker we can get home," Amethyst said, shredding another patch of brambles with her whip, "So stop complaining and actually help us here." Pearl sighed and slashed her spear through the undergrowth and moving to another patch. She focused on the steady swing and slash of her spear as she worked, and felt her annoyance with her team mates begin to dissipate. She was so absorbed in her work that she hardly noticed the patch of brambles which covered the mouth of a large cave. Slashing the last of the patch, she stepped onto what she thought was solid ground, only for the cut branches under her foot to give way and send her tumbling down into the dark cavern. Her head thumped against the hard cave floor and she groaned, trying to get to her feet. Her vision blurred and she swayed unsteadily on her feet. She grabbed hold of a stalagmite to steady herself as the ground seemed to shift beneath her feet. She could hear Garnet and Amethyst calling for her from the surface and clung tighter to the stalagmite.

"Amethyst! Garnet!" she called, her voice echoing in the cave, "I'm down here!" Pearl heard the scuffling of her team mates outside the mouth of the cave,

"Pearl?" came the voice of Amethyst, echoing through the cave, "You down here?"

"Yes!" she replied, wrapping her arms and legs around the stalagmite, "The ground's shaking down here! Please get me out of here!" She heard Garnet form her gauntlets, and the fusion called down to her,

"Stay where you are Pearl," she called, "We're coming down!" Pearl stayed clinging to the stalagmite as she heard the clinking sounds of Amethyst's whip wrapping around something, and then the thud of her team mates landing on the floor of the cave.

"Woah!" Amethyst exclaimed, pulling out two whips, "Uhh… Pearl… I think you've found the monster." The pale gem shrieked, and the monster beneath her swung its head around to try and snatch the gem off its back. She waved her spear at it, managing to catch it in the eye. It roared in pain and she thrust the spear further. It shook its head, the spear snapping as the monster caught it in its huge jaws, huge crystal teeth snapping at the gem on its back again. Pearl shrieked and scrambled to get off its back, only to be flung into Garnet by its tail.

"Pearl!" Amethyst cried, turning her back on the cave monster to check on her friend, "Are you all right?" The pale gem nodded weakly before Garnet spoke up,

"Amethyst!" she exclaimed, lifting Pearl off her chest, "Never turn your back on a monster!" Amethyst rolled out of the way just in time to avoid being crushed in the crystal teeth that chomped at the spot where she'd just been.

"Woah!" the purple gem cried, "That was close!" She swung her whip and it wrapped around the monster's face, holding its jaws shut. Amethyst swung her second whip, trapping its forelegs. The beast struggled to stay upright as Amethyst was pulling his legs out from under him, "Pearl! Stay back! Let Garnet go for its gem!" she yelled, pulling harder when the beast tried to swing around to attack with its tail, the stalagmites growing on its back scraping where the roof of the cave was low. The beast lowered its head to charge its purple captor and Garnet took the opportunity to leap over its horns and slam her gauntlets into the soft spot just behind the spikes. The beast roared in pain and staggered towards the red fusion who had landed to its left side. Garnet slammed the beast into the back wall of the cave and a stalactite broke off from the roof and plunged through the soft skin under the monsters foreleg. The beast exploded into a cloud of white smoke and a big orange gem dropped out of the cloud and landed into Garnet's waiting hands. She bubbled it and quickly sent it away to the temple. A loud rumbling echoed through the cave and all three gems glanced up at the shaking stalactites. A cloud of dust erupted from the entrance to the cave and then a loud booming caused all three gems to flinch. The light that had been streaming through the entrance was shut off and the three gems were left in the dark.

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"What's happening?!" Steven cried, bounding up the stairs into his bedroom. Connie followed behind him, and almost ran into his back when he stopped in the middle of the walkway. He stared at the pillow nest beside the windows, where a silvery-blue gem was hovering a small distance above the pillows. It shone, beams of light scattering through Steven's room. The boy rushed towards the nest, pulling it away from the hovering gem, but removing the cushion it had been sat upon and placing it where he expected the gem to land.

"Steven, the gemlings are beginning to regenerate!" Connie gushed, kneeling beside the pillow. When she had been standing, the gem had been hovering at knee height. The pulsing light increased and the two children covered their eyes.

When Steven peeked through a gap in his fingers, the gem was not hovering anymore. A small figure, just large enough to fill Steven's hand, was seated on the pillow, and from the nest behind it, the other gems began to rise into the air. Soon, eleven tiny gemlings in various shades of blue were huddled in the nest. Steven had removed the larger three gems - Tourmaline, Spinel, and Charoite - from the nest and placed them in his pocket. He and Connie stood staring at the tiny gems in awe.

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The warp pad activated and Steven and Connie were awakened from their awed staring. The three original Crystal Gems stepped off the warp pad and into the house, immediately greeted by chirping and peeping noises.

"Hello Steven!" Pearl greeted, "Has anything happened with the gemlings?" He grinned at her excitedly,

"The gemlings regenerated!" he announced, dancing around Pearl's legs. The warp pad activated again and Lapis and Larimar stepped back into the house, having finished the laundry. Lavender soon climbed through a window and perched on a bookshelf as Steven continued to dance around the house,

"Gemlings! Gemlings!" he sang, dancing around Larimar, but he was interrupted when the gemstones in his pocket started to move, almost tearing the fabric of his hoodie. He quickly grabbed them before they could tear it and pulled them out. The Tourmaline and Spinel gems shot into the air and the room was blasted with white light.


	16. Through Her Eyes

The two gems landed, Tourmaline on her feet, and Spinel on her back. Steven bounded over to them, jumping on Spinel, who had just got to her feet,

"Hi! I'm Steven!" he exclaimed, "Welcome to Earth! Larimar's told me so much about you!" The two new gems turned to look at the other gems. Pearl twitched, restraining herself from snatching Steven away from the strangers. Garnet rested a calming hand on Pearl's shoulder,

"It's fine, Pearl," she said, glancing at the new gems, "They're good."

"Yeah, don't sweat it, P," Amethyst said, patting the taller gem on the arm. Pearl smiled at the other two Crystal Gems, then at the new arrivals,

"Well," she began, straightening her posture, "Welcome to Earth! I'm Pearl and these are my team mates, Garnet and Amethyst. You've already met Steven." She paused and glanced at Lapis, "And they're Lapis, Larimar, and Lavender Chalcedony," she said, pointing first to the darker blue gem, then the pale blue gem, and finally, the pale purple gem perched on top of the bookcase. Lapis smiled and waved, and the pale purple gem repeated the gesture from her perch.

"Please, call me Lavender," the purple gem requested, leaping nimbly off the top of the bookcase and landing lightly on the ground beside Lapis. She turned to the red gem,

"Spinel. It's good to see you again," she said, extending a hand to the gem, who was only slightly shorter than Garnet. The new red gem gripped her hand, shook it, and extended her other arm to touch the gem on her comrade's forehead. Lavender returned the gesture, as was common when greeting other gems.

"I gather it's been a while," the red gem replied, glancing around at the new faces,

"It has," Larimar said, stepping forward to greet her red friend. The red gem stared at her,

"Larimar…" she said, reaching out to make sure the pale gem was real. Once Spinel had confirmed that she was not dreaming, she pounced on the pale blue gem, hugging her fiercely,

"Hello Spinel," Larimar chuckled, returning the hug, and then turning to Tourmaline, "It's been a while since I saw you too!" She pulled the bright blue gem into a hug once Spinel had let go,

"I'm sorry for getting us reassigned," Tourmaline said, her voice muffled by Larimar's shoulder. The pale blue gem patted her on the head, ruffling Tourmaline's neat hairstyle,

"It was a really long time ago Tourmaline," she said, comforting the fighter gem, "I'm over it already. Spending around six thousand years in the sea will fix almost anything. I'm just glad that General Apatite didn't toss you out of the space ship." The other blue gem sighed,

"You're right," Tourmaline said, hugging her old friend tighter. Out of the corner of her eye, Pearl saw Lapis returning to her seat on the lounge, her hands clutching a pink bubble. She frowned, but turned her attention back to the gems. They were still locked in a tight hug, with Spinel standing off to the side, leaning against the wall as she talked with Amethyst. Pearl scowled and from her position behind the hugging gems, she cleared her throat to get everyone's attention,

"As nice as this reunion might be," she said, her frown deepening, "I think right now, we ought to sort out what exactly Lapis is planning to do with that bubble!" Her voice almost rising to a shriek as she pointed to the bubble containing Jasper's gem. Lapis, who had silently retrieved Jasper from Steven's cupboard, clutched the bubble closer to her chest, her eyes widening in fear.

"No!" the blue gem cried, shielding the bubble with her own body as Pearl reached into her gem for a spear.

RTDRTDRTD

The next few moments moved incredibly fast. As Pearl reached into her gem for her spear, ready to fight, Garnet reached out and grabbed the pale gem's wrist as Amethyst grabbed her other arm. Garnet took control and restrained the angry gem, the red fusion trapping both of Pearl's wrists in one strong hand, and using the other one to manoeuvre the pale gem into a position from which she could not see Lapis.

"Pearl," Garnet said, her visor disappearing with a flick of her hand, "Calm down." The fusion stroked her angry team mate's hair until the pale gem was shaking in her arms. "There we go," Garnet said, "Now. How about we talk about this with no violence, hm?" Pearl took a shaky breath and turned to face Lapis, still seated on Garnet's lap.

"I'm sorry, Lapis," Pearl said with a weak smile, "Let's try that again." The blue gem nodded. Garnet saw Amethyst slip Steven some money and she smiled a little.

RTDRTDRTD

Lapis sat uncomfortably on one end of the lounge, her hands resting on the pink bubble in her lap. On the other end sat Pearl and Garnet, whilst Amethyst had perched herself on the coffee table, despite Pearl's requests to not do so. Larimar had gone upstairs to Steven's room to tend to her gemlings, but she was in earshot incase things started to go south. Lapis wished Steven hadn't announced that he and Connie and Lavender were going to show Spinel and Tourmaline around. The house was too quiet without him. The silence between them was awkward and painful.

"So… Are we just gonna sit here?" Amethyst asked, breaking the silence, "Because I was planing to rearrange my junk piles at some time today." Pearl almost shot the purple gem a withering look, but restrained herself. She cleared her throat, and Lapis prepared herself for a harsh verbal scolding, instead, Pearl asked something she never expected,

"Why do you care for Jasper so much?" the pale gem asked, eyeing the bubble in the blue gem's lap. Lapis was startled,

"W-what?" she stammered, gripping the bubble,

"She imprisoned you!" Pearl said, "She tried to force you to fuse with her! Why do you care for her?" Lapis looked down at her lap, gazing at the bubble with the orange and red gem inside. There was what looked like a hairline fissure running through the centre of the gem, dividing the red from the orange. Now that she could see Jasper's gem up close, she understood. Lifting her head, she returned her focus to the gems. She clutched the bubble and took in a deep breath,

"I-I was in her head," Lapis began, remembering the year they spent as Malachite, "When we were Malachite, I saw… everything. All her memories. There were some that were a bit fractured, memories from before Earth and the war. Her name wasn't Jasper back then." She saw Pearl sit bolt upright in shock, eyes wide at the revealed information.

"What do you mean her name wasn't Jasper?" Pearl asked, Garnet holding her back again,

"They addressed her as Sard," Lapis said, "She barely remembers that time. Shortly before when the war started, there is a new set of memories, even more fractured than Sard's. The other memories belong to Carnelian." There was a silence between them,

"So what is she?" Amethyst asked, "Is she, like, a fusion or something?" Garnet frowned, and Pearl felt the fusion vibrating with heat. The last time Garnet had been this angry was after the Cluster. But Jasper couldn't possibly be… Pearl's thoughts trailed off as she came to a startling realisation.

"She's a forced fusion…" Pearl gasped. Garnet's hand which was resting on the pale gem's hip tightened,

"Lapis, give me the bubble," Garnet said, her voice low. The blue gem hesitated, clutching the bubble tighter, "I won't hurt Jasper. I promise." Lapis, still wary, handed Jasper's bubble over to the fusion. Garnet held it up in front of her eyes, and Pearl noticed a tear leak out from underneath her visor. She watched as Garnet popped the bubble, catching Jasper's gem as it fell. The red fusion handed the red and orange gem over to Lapis, "Keep her safe," Garnet said, closing the blue gem's hand around the vulnerable Jasper. Lapis nodded, but didn't say a word, and snatched up a book when the front door swung open and Steven bounded into the house, Connie behind him with Lavender chatting to a very happy Tourmaline whilst Spinel devoured a donut. Larimar descended the stairs from Steven's room and she and Lapis exchanged a smile before the pale gem's attention was diverted by the squawking of the Iolite gemling in her arms. Lapis smiled as she ran her fingers over Jasper's gem, before beginning to read the book in her hands.


	17. Reformation

A few days had passed by after the Crystal Gems and their new housemates had discussed the fate of the orange forced fusion. Lapis had kept the orange gem close to her, fearful that one of the others might try to crush her, despite Steven's reassurance that they wouldn't. The Charoite gem had not regenerated yet, and Lavender, who had begun to carry her mentor's gem around, became worried. The pale purple gem didn't need to sleep, so she had kept a constant eye on the streaked purple gem, usually retreating to the head of the temple or the roof of the house in order to be with her thoughts.

One night, as usual, Lavender waited until all the gems were sleeping or had retired to their rooms before she left the house. This particular night, she didn't take her place on the roof, or on the head of the temple. Instead, she walked down the beach and passed the sleeping buildings of Beach City, its streetlights flickering on and off, as they often did after the power outage a while ago. Once she got to the other end of the beach, she sat down on the sand, which was still slightly warm from the heat of the sun. Pulling Charoite's gem from her pocket, she brushed her fingers over its shining, streaked surface, before lifting her gaze to the stars above her.

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Back at the beach house, Lapis silently stepped onto the porch, feet bare and her small hand clutching Jasper's gem. With a glance up at the stars, she summoned her wings and flew to the top of the headland, landing gracefully on the windswept grasses. The lighthouse tower behind her was still and dark. Ronaldo hadn't been back after the incident with the strange blue gem that seemed to have possessed the building. Lapis lowered herself to sit on the grass, hands cupped around the mostly orange gem as she stared out at the stars and the other end of the beach. The streetlights of the small town down below continued to flicker and Lapis sighed, turning away from the sleeping town to face the dark ocean. As she turned, movement down the end of the beach caught her eye and she abandoned her wistful gazing at the ocean. Peering off into the darkness, she tried to identify the figure who had just sat down on the sand. Having no luck, she returned her gaze to the dark stillness of the ocean.

RTDRTDRTD

Lavender, sitting on the quickly cooling sand at the end of the beach, had been watching the ocean and the stars for hours now. The moon had risen to its peak in the dark sky, indicating that the time was around midnight. Once it began to drop from its position in the sky, she had walked down to the water, the tide still in its constant cycle of ebb and flow, and let the waves tickle her bare feet. The feel of the sand on these Earth beaches was very different to the sands of Homeworld's beaches. She wriggled her toes, marvelling at the feeling of it as it got in between her toes.

Homeworld's beaches were rather different to Earth's. Homeworld had pink crystal sands, which glittered in the light of their home star. The grains of sand on Earth were such a multitude of colours, from black sand volcanic beaches and the pristine white sand beaches on many of Earth's islands, to rare and beautiful beaches in green and pink. The water on Homeworld was a bright blue-green colour which didn't change with the weather. It surprised her that Earth's waters could be many different shades of blue. She smiled to herself, remembering how much Pink Dia- no she was to address her as General Rose Quartz- loved the feeling of Homeworld's sand between her toes. Her fearless leader had been a most puzzling mystery, one which Lavender knew very little of. She had only been close enough to the puzzling General to learn about a very small amount of the pink-haired gem. Charoite, the General's trusted advisor and friend, had told her the odd snippet of information now and then, but Lavender had soon discovered that her leader kept her secrets close, and her closest friends would not reveal anything, so she had become content with watching and admiring her leader from the distance provided by their difference in rank.

Her mentor's gem, still grasped in Lavender's steady hands, twitched. The pale purple didn't notice anything until the streaked gem gave a violent jerk and began to glow, its surface heating up to temperatures that Lavender found uncomfortable. She let go of the darker purple gem and stepped backwards, her wet feet sinking into dry sand which clung to her purple feet. The darker purple gem hovered at the height of Lavender's head and let out a bright flash of light.

RTDRTDRTD

Lapis, still seated in the windswept grasses up on the headland, was still gazing out at the rippling water of the dark sea. The sky had just begun to lighten, the white pinprick stars slowly fading away as it got closer to dawn. A bright flash from the other end of the beach caught her eye, and she jumped to her feet, eager to get a better look at whatever was happening. Her eyes widened in awe as the source of light flashed brighter, moving a little higher into the air. Within the light, Lapis saw a figure forming from the hovering gem. The light lingered around the figure as it descended to put its feet on firm ground, the light bursting into fading sparkles as the figure landed lightly on the sand. Lapis' mouth dropped open, and she gaped at where the two figures on the beach had been, having returned to the darkness once more. She stood there for a few minutes, trying to process what she had just witnessed, but was distracted once she noticed that she had dropped Jasper's gem. She saw it resting near by in a patch of yellow paper daisies, and she stepped towards it, intending to scoop the fusion up and carry her back to the house. She had only taken one step towards the gem when it emitted a bright pulse of light and shot high up into the air. Lapis lost her balance, stumbling backwards and falling on her backside. She watched with wide eyes as the orange fusion began to take on her human-like form, before she descended to the ground, landing as if she weighed the same as a feather. The light faded into sparkles as Lapis stared up at the huge gem before her, hoping that Jasper had changed since Malachite broke apart, which had forced Jasper into her gem.

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On the beach below, Lavender and Charoite had begun their walk back to the beach house, conversing in hushed voices as the sky began to lighten. The pale purple gem had stood before her old mentor in shock, before she had come to her senses and slowly reached out to lay a hand on a streaked purple shoulder. Her mentor was blind, as all Charoite gems were, and had sensed the much younger purple gem, but had waited for her student to approach her first. When the pale purple gem had laid a shaking hand on her shoulder, she smiled. The younger purple gem had laughed and gathered her old mentor into a tight hug, before inviting her to join them at the temple. At Charoite's agreement, they had set off back along the beach. When they had almost reached the temple, Lavender had seen a bright flash on top of the headland.

Charoite lifted her head towards where she was picking up a signal representing the presence of another gem. There was a structure which contained several gem signals in it, but that was not the purple gem's interest. High above the house, on what Charoite believed to be a headland, she registered two signals, one was small and glowing blue, and the other was large, but she saw it had one orange part which merged with a smaller section of red. It was unlike a conventional fusion, in which the gems linked together, but was in fact two distinct gems mashed together into one huge being. As she studied the energy that was the big gem's signal, she began to feel as though she knew the red half of the gem. She frowned but noticed Lavender moving towards a small slope by which one could gain access to the headland. Following her student, she made her way up towards the two - or maybe it was three? - gems on the cliff top.

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Inside the beach house, Garnet was watching from the window. Seeing the bright flash coming from somewhere above them, the red fusion nudged a fast asleep Amethyst so that the small purple gem rolled off the lounge and landed on the floor with a thud and awoke with a jolt. Pearl, who had been watching Steven sleep, was alerted to a change in events and poked at the boy in the bed until he woke up. From the corner of the room, where Larimar had set up a temporary bed, a soft whining noise arose, quickly joined by stressed peeping and chirping from several of the gemlings. The noises of her children quickly awoke the pale blue gem that they were snuggled around, and as she sat up, the gemlings were either scooped up, or clung to her as she rose from the nest of pillows she had created. Tourmaline, who had been slumped tiredly against one wall of Steven's room, prodded Spinel, who had fallen asleep on her shoulder. The red gem grumbled but was quick to jump to her feet when Garnet informed her of the situation.

The gems, some more awake than others, stumbled out of the beach house and raced up to the top of the headland, encountering Lavender and the newly-regenerated Charoite on their way up. Pearl skidded to a stop when she saw the towering orange and red gem. Garnet crashed into the shorter gem, almost dropping Steven as she fell on top of her comrade. Amethyst was knocked over by one of Garnet's legs and almost rolled back down the slope again, however, she was stopped when she collided with Spinel, who was supporting an exhausted Tourmaline. Both Spinel and Tourmaline fell to the ground, trapping Amethyst under their combined weight. The short purple gem huffed when she heard the bell-like laughter of Larimar, who had fallen behind due to the gemlings that clung to her and raced ahead of her, and the one stubborn Benitoite gemling who insisted on walking, even though her short, stubby legs meant she was constantly behind the rest of her family. Larimar raised an eyebrow when she saw Lapis and Jasper, and she stepped over the bodies of her grumbling friends, scooping up her stray children along the way. She made her way over to Lapis, who quickly relieved her of the struggling Benitoite gemling, and they all stared up at Jasper, tall and silent, as the gems on the ground began to right themselves, the squabbling of Pearl and Garnet becoming background noise until a small green figure moving extremely fast crashed into the lighthouse and fell to the ground.


	18. Fight Song

"What the-?" Pearl cried, reaching to pull her spear out of her gem, "Is that Peridot?" Garnet stopped the pale gem from using her weapon on the vulnerable gem laying on the ground.

"Not now Pearl," she said, turning her pale team mate away from the green Homeworld gem on the ground, "We deal with that first. We can deal with Peridot later," Garnet pointed to a large shape which flew through the air towards them, getting bigger by the second,

"Larimar, go!" Lapis yelled, shooing her friend away to keep the gemlings safe. Larimar looked unsure, but with a reassuring glance from Lapis, she gathered the gemlings in her arms. The pale blue gem clutched at her children and fled from the headland, retreating back into the temple. Lapis turned back to the growing shape approaching them,

"What is that?" she asked, raising a giant fist of water,

"That's another gem," Garnet said, summoning her gauntlets, "Peridot must have been running away from it."

"What do we do?" Pearl shrieked. Charoite, who had not said a word since she had arrived on the top of the headland.

"We fight it," she said. The gems turned to look at her, Pearl raising a questioning eyebrow, "And we fight it as far from your temple as we can."

"Charoite is right," Garnet said, glancing around at the other gems, "This headland may have endured thousands of years of erosion, but we have no idea how it would hold up against such a large gem. We have to fight it further down the beach, and away from the town, if possible." Pearl nodded,

"Right," she said, drawing her spear, "Let's fight." She paused and looked at Peridot, "Steven, can you get her back to the temple and keep an eye on her?" she asked, looking to the small boy.

"I don't know if I can lift her," Steven said, thinking about how much larger Peridot was, "And I wanna help!" From the rear of the group, Charoite spoke up,

"I will take her back to the temple," the purple gem said, "I am blind. I will be of no use to you. My job is strategic planning, not fighting."

"Uh guys… I hate to be a party pooper but it's getting really close…" Amethyst said from where she stood, between Tourmaline and Lavender.

"All right. Charoite, take Peridot back to the temple," Garnet said, facing the group, "Everyone else, down to the beach, but for Homeworld's sake Lapis, don't lose Jasper!" With that, Garnet used a super strength jump to clear the distance between the site she had picked to engage the corrupted gem. The others exchanged glances and, with Lapis grabbing hold of an oddly quiet Jasper, they followed Garnet.

Landing on the beach, they looked up at the sky. The approaching gem was now close enough that they could see its spiked head and leathery wings. Its long body, short, muscular legs, and strange hoof-like feet gave it an alien appearance. It was not close enough to determine the placement of its gem.

"We need a distraction!" Garnet shouted. Lapis glanced at Jasper, who was still silent.

"How about Jasper?" she suggested to Garnet. Pearl frowned at the blue water gem.

"I'm not sure that's a smart idea, Lapis," the pale gem said, glancing up at the orange gem who towered above them.

"Well, if she doesn't help, then she'll just get in the way!" Lapis said, frustrated with the pale gem's skittish nature.

"We don't have time to argue!" Garnet shouted, "Jasper will have to do!" The orange gem nodded, summoning her helmet. The creature let out a roar and landed heavily on the beach, shaking the ground, "Jasper, you distract it while I find its gem!" The orange gem nodded again and sprang forward, slamming one massive fist into one of the monster's eyes. The beast roared in anger, snapping out at its attacker. Jasper dodged to the side, swiping at its eye with her strange cat-like claws. The blow landed, slashing the soft skin. With one of the beast's eyes out of commission, Jasper jumped up, grabbing one of the long horns protruding from the side of the beasts head and using it to swing herself up and onto its head. The beast tossed its head, sending Jasper flying. She landed heavily and cat-like. She quickly got to her feet as Garnet reappeared at the monsters left flank.

"The gem is on the monster's shoulder!" she called to the other gems, signalling them to prepare their weapons, "Poof and bubble, as per normal." Lapis raised a water hand and sent it slamming down onto the monster, except the beast dodged and the water hand made a giant crater in the sand. It retaliated by roaring and sending a ball of fire towards the water gem. Lapis shrieked and jumped back, her bare feet landing on the edge of the crater her water fist had made. The edge beneath her crumbled and she fell down into the soggy sand at the bottom.

"Lapis!" Steven cried, running to the edge of the crater. Jasper followed him and jumped down into the soft sand to scoop up the blue gem who was covered in sand. Steven watched them from the edge and behind him, Pearl had thrust a spear into the beast's other eye, but it would take more than that to poof it. Amethyst had been flung into the sea after attempting to lasso the creature's tail, and Lavender was having little success in taking out its legs. Tourmaline leaped up onto its back, slamming her double headed axe into its neck. The beast shuddered and collapsed into a cloud of white, sending the blue gem plummeting toward the sand, where she landed face-first on the regenerating gem. Tourmaline groaned and rolled over, rubbing at the place where her nose had been bruised by her fall onto the gem. Spinel picked herself up off the sand and ran over to Tourmaline, scooping up the defeated gem monster. She handed it off to Garnet, who didn't say a word as she bubbled the corrupted gem and sent it back to the temple. There was a thud on the sand behind them, and Garnet turned to see Jasper leap from the hole in the sand back to ground level, a limp Lapis clutched in her arms.

"Is she all right?" Pearl asked, staring at the blue gem. Jasper clutched her former captor protectively,

"I don't know," the orange gem replied, glancing down at Lapis, "She is unconscious, and I don't think she's cracked her gem, but we should check anyway once we get back to the temple." Pearl only nodded in agreement,

"Okay," she said, "Perhaps Charoite can help us." The pale gem folded her arms and looked around the group, "Is everyone all right?" she asked. Tourmaline, who had gotten up from the sand, rubbed at her nose again,

"I landed on that hunk of rock when it poofed," she said, rubbing at the bruise. With her gem healing powers, it would heal in only a few hours. Most of the others were fine.

"Hey, where's Amethyst?" Steven asked, looking around for the short purple gem.

"I think she got flung out to sea," Spinel said, scanning the expanse of ocean for the missing gem. A large wave broke over the shore, depositing a sodden mass of pale hair and purple skin. Amethyst rolled over with a groan, gagging as she spat up water,

"That was fun," she said, looking around the group, "Aw… you finished the party without me!" She proceeded to shake off all the water and then took in the damage on the beach, "All right, I'm done here. Can we go back to the temple now?" Pearl laughed and they made their way down the beach to the house.


	19. She Sells Sea Shells

The morning was warm and sunny, and Steven had woken up early to the ringing of his phone. It was Connie calling,

"Hey Steven!" she exclaimed when he answered the phone, "Is everyone all right over at the house?" Steven grinned,

"Everyone's fine," he said, glancing around at the few gems who had chosen to sleep, "Larimar and the gemlings are asleep, as is Lapis. Lavender and Charoite disappeared outside, I think Jasper went with them."

"Oh that's good," Connie said, followed by rustling on her end of the phone, "So I wanted to ask, how about we all go down to the beach today? The gemlings might enjoy a day of sand and sun."

"That sounds fun," Steven replied, sliding off his bed to go find Pearl, "I'll go ask Pearl then I'll call you back!" The two friends said their farewells, then Steven hung up and bounded down the stairs. Pearl was in the kitchen, a frypan in hand and a bowl of pancake batter on the bench. Steven greeted her, pulling up a stool to the bench. He leapt up onto it and folded his arms on top of the counter.

"Oh, good morning Steven!" Pearl said, flipping another pancake onto the growing stack, "Are the others awake yet?"

"No, at least, the ones who sleep aren't awake," he replied, staring hungrily at the stack of pancakes. Pearl noticed this and laughed,

"Well, could you go gather everyone and then we can sit together for breakfast?" she asked, pouring more batter into the pan. Steven hopped down off his stool and raced away to find the other gems.

RTDRTDRTD

The noise levels had risen to an almost uncomfortable level once all the gems had been gathered in the house, and Steven could tell that things were not going as planned. Larimar, on the lounge, had long ago given up attempting to corral the many gemlings scurrying and making various peeping and chirping noises and was glad that the Moonstone gemling, the smallest in her entire clutch, had stayed and currently slept peacefully in her lap. The tiny Angelite gemling had flown to the top of the bookcase and wouldn't come down, even when offered help. Her Benitoite sister romped around on the floor below, tackling Jasper's feet and chasing her much faster Aquamarine sister as their small Lazulite sister watched everything from her perch on the spine of a world atlas.

Lapis currently held three gemlings, Celestine, Azurite, and Kyanite. Whilst the Azurite was easily occupied by chasing the different sea creatures she made out of water, and the Celestine was content to just sit and sing softly, the Kyanite was more interested in the ribbons of Lapis' top. The tiny blue gemling had grabbed one trailing ribbon and wrapped herself in it, rolling on the floor as she played with the silky fabric.

Across the room, the tiny, blue Aventurine gemling lay basking in the sun, the beams bouncing off her shimmering skin, causing blue shimmers to dance across the walls when she moved. Nearby, the Euclase gemling napped on top of one of Steven's toys, and the Iolite gemling peeped occasionally from inside a small box full of shredded newspaper.

Steven sighed and climbed onto the coffee table, and, using his pudgy fingers, made a shrill whistle to quieten the group. The gems looked up, pausing their conversations, and the gemlings stopped running and wrestling and peeping, some emerging from hiding spots or rolling over to investigate the source of the loud noise. The Moonstone gemling fussed and rubbed her ear in her sleep before rolling over and continuing to slumber. Steven cleared his throat,

"Ahem," he began, "It's such a warm day outside! I was thinking we could all go down to the beach!"

"Well, I'm game!" Amethyst announced, shifting into her beach outfit, "Who's with me?"

"Why not?" Larimar said with a shrug, "I'm sure the gemlings will enjoy a day of sun and sand!"

"I'll come!" Lapis announced, eyeing Jasper for a moment. The big gem shrugged, indicating that she didn't care, although Lapis knew Jasper hated the ocean.

"But what about Peridot?" Pearl piped up, a small frown forming,

"Well, her limb enhancers are wrecked beyond belief," Charoite said, and then shrugged, "She won't be a problem." The green gem poked Charoite in the lower leg,

"Hey!" she squawked, "I'm right here!" Pearl sighed and gave in when Steven pouted at her,

"All right," she said, "Just keep a good eye on her." Charoite gave a silent nod and Peridot grumbled, tucking her knees up to her chest. Steven looked around the group for any other objections to the proposed beach trip. When none were given, he cheered loudly,

"All right!" he exclaimed, "To the beach!"

RTDRTDRTD

The rock pools were warm, and Larimar enjoyed wriggling her toes in the sand at the bottom. She sat on a dry rock by the edge, watching her gemlings as they investigated the water with caution. A short distance away, she could see Steven and Connie playing with a beach ball in the ocean, with Garnet watching from the shallows, Lavender and Spinel standing beside her. A little further out, Amethyst caught a wave on her surfboard as a demonstration to the eagerly watching Tourmaline. Pearl had set up an umbrella a little way away, and she and Charoite were underneath it, Pearl's nose in a book, and the purple gem doing something that Larimar couldn't quite see. She noticed that Jasper had fallen asleep in the sun like one of the big Earth cats from a video Steven had shown her.

There was a loud shrieking from nearby, and Larimar turned, only to see a sodden Peridot crawl out of one of the deeper rock pools, a starfish firmly suctioned to her face. The tiny green gem fell to the sand, screaming bloody murder and yanking desperately at the rather strong starfish. Larimar merely laughed when she noticed Lapis, who had mastered the art of taking photos with Steven's phone and was happily recording Peridot's struggle with the small creature.

"Lazuli!" Peridot shrieked, "Don't just stand there! Get this thing off me!" Both Lapis and Larimar just laughed, Lapis flying over to sit beside the pale blue gem. They both turned their attention to the gemlings in the rock pool, leaving Peridot to her suffering.

A loud chirping erupted as the Benitoite gemling emerged from the water, a large crab gripping her leg in its pincers. Larimar darted out to smack the crab away from her daughter, but Lapis grabbed her arm to stop her. When Larimar gave her a questioning look, Lapis merely gestured back to the gemling, who had set upon the crab with vigour, her little fists pummelling the hard shelled creature until it released her leg, upon which she kicked it in its underbelly. The crab was knocked back off the rock, falling back into the water with a plop. It scuttled away, and Larimar hoped it was ashamed of itself. Her little daughter dived back into the water, this time, chasing after a school of tiny fish.

Most of her tiny daughters were interested in the water to some degree. From the little Angelite, who dragged shells out from the pool, screaming when there was something living inside them, to the Aventurine who was gleefully poking at an anemone, laughing as it tried to eat her fingers. The Moonstone gemling was the only one content to sit on the shore. The pale gemling sat beside Larimar's side inside of a large shell that Angelite had dragged out of the pool. Angelite had begun piling empty shells she found around her younger sister, and Kyanite rolled the occupied shells back into the pool.

Larimar sighed happily, relaxing in the sun, Lapis beside her and her gemlings around her. The activity on the beach continued, gems and humans enjoying the sun and the sand. The waves rolled in and the water was drawn back out again. Amethyst continued riding waves and Tourmaline was now standing up on her board as she caught some of the easier waves closer to shore. Jasper continued napping in the sun, still stretched out like a big, golden cat.


End file.
